Alright, turn back with me to
the book of John. We're going to look primarily
this morning at verse 14 here in John chapter 1, and we may
spend a week or two right here on this verse. As often in the Scriptures, when
we read the Scriptures, we don't read them like a newspaper or
like a magazine, whatever is on the surface and
go on, because we know that this is the Word of God, and it is
as deep as you want to go. You just go as deep as you want
to go in it, and you'll find out that you haven't even scratched
the surface. You just barely, like when you're
swimming and you hold your breath and go under for just, that's
all you've done. You have nowhere near gone to
the depths of what this book is about. And that's the way
it is when we read. And I find that you'll go along
and it'll cover, like it does there in the book of Genesis
early, it'll cover thousands of years in a few verses. It'll
take you from Adam to Noah in a few verses. And then it'll
stop and talk about Noah for two chapters. And then it'll
go on again and then it'll stop with a man like Abraham and talk
about him for 15 chapters. And so as we come down through
here, I've been trying to point out to you in these first verses
all that Paul is... He's getting you ready, John
is rather. He's getting you ready for what
he's about to say down here in verse 14. Because down here in
verse 14 is the beginning of what Christ called the last day. Or that hour sometimes He even
referred to it. And so here is what it says,
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,
full of grace and truth. Now the verse actually reads,
you see the parenthesis there in the middle, you see how some
of that, well that means that these things were added by the
translator. So let me read it the way it
actually comes from the original. And the Word was made flesh,
made flesh, and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. That's
how it reads. Full of grace and truth. Now, I've tried to show you how
the Apostle lays the foundation for the coming Redeemer. He declared
Him to be the light of eternity, being God, dwelling with God,
being one with God. He declares Him as the Creator
of all things, as being God, the Creator of all things. And as such, His person and His
appointments and all that pertain unto Him is incorporated in this
creation. And the more I see it, the more
of Him, and the longer I live in it, the more I see of Him
around me. David, the psalmist, when he
began to sing, you remember what he says about the sun? He said
the earth is like a big sanctuary, like a big tabernacle. And the sun rises up in the tabernacle. And he said there's nothing out
there that's not affected by its heat. He declares, he said,
the earth and the creation and all these things, they declare
God. God comes up just like the sun. His light radiates, shines in
everything and on everything. There's nothing here that's not
affected by it. Nothing here that doesn't glimmer
and shine with something that has to do with Him and His redemptive
work. And He declares Him as being
in the world, both by what I just mentioned, but also by promise. He was given as a promise at
the very fall of man before man had to sit through that long
first night of darkness. God came and gave him the promise
of the woman's seed. And then you begin to trace it,
and you find that promise on Abel's altar, and you find that
promise as Enoch walked with God, and you find that promise
in Noah's ark, and you find it all the way down through the
Bible. You just keep finding that promise. Keep finding that
promise. I was talking yesterday to Russell. He came over and visited with
me for a little bit, and I was talking to him how that promise
was passed down from every generation. You can find, I forget now if
it's Matthew or Luke, which one of them goes, one of them just
goes back to David and one of them goes all the way back to
Adam. Well, in every generation, God raised up a witness, preserved
him, and showed you the connection between Christ all the way back
to Adam. Those promises. He reaffirmed
and reassured those promises all down through time. All down
through time. He'd raise up a man, a witness, And then he was in the world
by gracious providence. That's why the world is preserved. They denialate. This world would
absolutely self-destruct if it wasn't for the preservation of
God. Our families, you know why we
self-destruct? It's because God lifts His hand
off that family. That family just blows up like
a hand grenade. That's exactly what this world
would do. But the hand of God, who designed everything, this
hand of Christ, it preserves this world. to accomplish His
purpose. And in all their evils, and in
all their ways, and in all their ideas and theologies, and this
one going this way, and this one going this way, and this
one going out into the world, God takes that jumbled up mess,
Christ does, and accomplishes His purpose and preserves this
world for His own name and His own glory. Christ was in the
world in a gracious providence. And he was in the world by pre-incarnate
appearances. Like, he came down in the cool
of the day, it said, and walked with Adam. I don't think Adam
walked with a spirit. I think Adam walked with a man. I think that was a pre-incarnate
appearance of Christ. And then he appeared to Abraham
as Melchizedek. You read and study a little bit
about Melchizedek, and ain't nobody else will fit Melchizedek
except the Son of God. He had neither beginning of days
nor end of days. He had no descent. He had no
mother, no father. He was eternal priest of God
is what he was. That's Christ. That's Christ. He was the angel in that bush
that appeared to Moses and sent him down with the instructions
for the tabernacle. And he said, you see that you
build this thing according to the pattern I showed you in the
mountain. That's Christ. I was crushed in that furnace
with the three Hebrew children when the old king looked in and
he said, I see four men in there and one of them looks like the
Son of God. All kinds of appearances, wrestling with Jacob, all these
appearances. But the world as a whole before
the time of Israel wouldn't have anything to do with him. They
wouldn't receive him, they didn't see it, they didn't worship him,
they weren't moved by these things in the least. And so God comes
along and he singles out a people. He calls them Israel. Israel. They got their name from their
father. These were the twelve sons of Jacob whom God changed
his name and said, ìYouíre not going to be called Jacob the
supplanter anymore. Youíre going to be called Jacob.
Youíre going to be called Israel.î Israel, the prince. And so he came Into the world,
he was in the world, and the world knew him not. He'd come
to his own in Israel and in detailed pictures. Now I'm telling you,
I've been looking at this for who knows how long, almost all
my life I've been looking at these pictures, and I haven't
even scratched the surface of the detail of God's redemptive
work in the person of Christ that he sets forth in the Old
Testament to Israel. He'll take a single man like
Abraham, and picture the whole work. He'll take a single man
like Joseph and picture the whole work. Or you can stand back at
a distance like I did up in Danville to end a message one time. Somebody
told Don I preached the whole Old Testament. But what I did
was I stood back. I read through it rather quickly
and I stood back with an overview of Israel from Abraham all the
way to Cain. And it's a picture. The whole
of their history is a picture of the whole work of redemption.
From their being called out in one man, Abraham, to the ascension
of David to the throne. All a picture of redemption. And he came unto his own in these
pictures and in these types and in all these things, but his
own received him not. Let me read you a few verses
over here in the book of Revelations if you want to turn over there,
Revelation chapter 19. I'm not going to go into all
these details and all these things except to say this, He came unto
His own and His own received Him not. But I do want you to
see this. This might be a help to you.
In Revelations 19, And this is the one who called himself John's
fellow servant. It was a voice that spoke to
him out of the throne or from around the throne. And this servant,
this angel or whoever it was, John heard his voice and heard
what he was saying and fell down to his feet and was going to
worship him. And he said, don't worship me. Worship God. Don't worship me. He said, worship
God. He said, I'm your fellow servant.
And listen to what he says here in verse 10. Well, he said this, I'm thy fellow
servant who also hath the testimony of Jesus. Who also hath it. You have it. I've got it too. Now listen to what he says here
in verse 10. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. It's the spiritual inspiration
of it. It's the spiritual intention
of it. God doesn't always, you can take
this Bible literally at face value and you'll never understand
this book. This book means what God intended
it to mean. Let that soak in for a minute.
He means this book to say what He intended it to say, not what
we think it says. Men stand up every Sunday and
tell what they think it says. This book says what God intended
it to say. And what God intended it to say
was Christ. You see what he is saying? This
is the spirit of prophecy. You want to understand prophecy?
Read it in the light of Christ, because He is the spirit of prophecy.
He is the spiritual application of it. It is Jesus Christ the
Lord. And everything written in time
by the prophets was about the eternal word and the revelation
of his purpose to the elect of God. He's the spirit of prophecy.
And with an understanding of this, watch how John describes
all he knew about the history of Christ. Here in verse 11,
back in Revelations, verse 11. He said, I saw heaven opened.
That's what I saw. What's he talking about? He's
talking about from eternity that eternal Word that he's been teaching
us about over here in John chapter 1. He looked all the way back
and he said, I saw heaven open. And he said, I saw a white horse.
And I saw Him that sat upon it. And He had a name. His name was
Faithful and True. And it was Him that came and
made war and made judgment. It was Him. It was him that rose
up the kingdoms and tore them down. It was him that called
out Israel. It was him that established Israel
and Canaan. He's the one on the horse. On his head were many crowns.
You see it there? Many crowns. Many crowns on his
head. Many victories to his account.
He's the one who conquered. All down through time it was
Christ. It wasn't the law, it wasn't Moses, it wasn't Elijah,
it was Christ on the horse, conquering, went forth to conquer. And he
conquered. And he had a name that nobody
knew but he himself. You see that down there? Nobody
knew this name but he himself, verse 13, and he was clothed
with a vesture dipped in blood and his name was called the Word
of God. Huh? That's what we've been reading
about over here in John chapter 1. John said, I saw Him. I saw where He come from out
of eternity. And I saw what He did all down
through time. And I saw what He did here. And
I saw the crowns on His head. Christ. Christ. But He came to His own. His own
received Him not. He was in the world. The world
received Him not. But some did receive Him. And
they received Him because they were born of God. And by way
of this new birth, they were given power to become sons of
God, and they believed on His name. His name is His character. His name is His reputation. They
believed on Him. And that's why we've got an Old
Testament. That's exactly right. And they set forth this coming.
They set it forth in detail. And they set it forth as God
breathed through them and inspired them to write. Turn with me over
to 1 Peter chapter 1. I'm not in a hurry this morning.
I don't care if we spend six weeks on this one verse. I want
you to see this. It's so important. Religion just
stands up and jumps up and down and they talk about because of
this, and because of that, and because of circumstances, and
because of what's in the world, and because of the conduct of
this nation, and this and that, and something happened in time,
and then God out of whatever, He's got to come up with some
way to save them, and thus comes the plan. God never had a plan. Everything God does is from eternity. He never had an original thought.
He knows all. Never was a time when he didn't
know everything that is. We've all together tried to make
God like a man. He's not a man. He said, My thoughts
are not your thoughts. Get that out of your head. Quit
trying to conceive a picture of God in your head. God is who
He says He is. Just take Him at His word. Take
Him at His word. Look here over in 1 Peter 1.
In verse 8. He is talking about Christ. He
said, Whom you have not seen, you love. You have never seen
Him. Peter saw Him, but we have never
seen Him. But we love Him. In whom though
now you see Him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the
salvation of your souls. He's talking about a salvation
received by faith, a rejoicing that's caused by faith. It's
the effects of faith. And this faith came from the
Word of God and the testimony of a preacher. And the only word
these preachers had was the Old Testament. You see, this letter, this epistle
that I'm reading from you here in 1 Peter, that's the New Testament. He was just now writing that.
This gospel he preached was altogether Old Testament gospel. Now watch
this, verse 10, "...of which salvation the prophets have inquired
and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come
unto you, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of
Christ which was in them did signify when it testified beforehand
of the sufferings of Christ and of the glory that should follow,
unto whom it was revealed," verse 12, that not unto themselves,
but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported
unto you by them which have preached the gospel unto you, with the
Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire
to look into." That's the whole Old Testament. There it is. There
it is. And the end of these things,
he talks about down in verse 18, he said that you know that
you weren't redeemed with corruptible things, That old silver and gold,
that's the old atonement money set forth under the law. He said,
you're not redeemed with that. That's old redemption money.
You're not redeemed with that. That's not how you was redeemed
with corruptible things like silver and gold from your vain
behavior that you received from tradition from your fathers.
That's all they got out of it. You remember they wouldn't receive
him. All they received is some ordinances and some laws and
some rituals. and made up some traditions and
passed them down generation to generation. But he said, you
was redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest. That's what
we're talking about this morning. manifest in these last times
for you who by Him do believe in God that raised Him from the
dead and gave Him glory that your faith and hope might be
in God." We've got no other way of knowing who God is. To know
God is eternal life. Life is not something you work
up in a song or some preacher with a sad tale about a dog.
Life is knowledge of God. It's knowing who God is. That's
life. Knowing God. Well, how are you
going to know God apart from Christ? No man's ever seen Him.
No one's ever seen Him as Christ. He's going to declare Him to
us. That's how we're going to learn about God. "...who by Him do believe in
God that raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory." And
then your faith and hope will be in God. He was in the world in promises.
He was in the world in the calling out of Israel. He was in the
world in a people born of His Spirit, the Spirit of Christ,
the Spirit of prophecy. And He was in the world by the
testimony of one last witness. This man was so special All the
rest of them said, ìSomebodyís coming. Somebodyís coming. Thereís
a man coming. The promise of God is coming.
The Messiah is coming.î John the Baptist took his finger and
pointed to a man coming down the path, and he said, ìBehold
the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God.î This
is what the whole Old Testament was coming up to, and there he
is. There he is. That's how special
that man was. You can read about him over here
in Isaiah chapter 40. It talks about his ministry.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness. And the voice said,
cry. And he said, what shall I cry?
He said, all flesh is grass. That's what that John the Baptist
ministry was to tell him. Now let me tell you something. God allowed his light to shine
for thousands and thousands of years. And he confirmed his promises
in every generation. He perpetually gave more and
greater light as time went on. Started out there in the garden
with a lamb. Then he set that lamb in distinction
on that altar. And then he taught him a little
bit more so that Enoch was able to walk with God. But without
faith, it's impossible. He pleased God, didn't he, in
his walk. That's what it says in Hebrews
11. But it also says without faith, you can't please God.
Enoch walked by faith. Faith in what? Christ. Yes, he
did. And you can read about him over
here in the New Testament, all the things that he preached.
He was a preacher. And then he gave you a little bit more light
in that vessel of Noah. And he gave a little bit more
light. And he just kept giving more and more light. And he spread
that light over a great distance. He caused Israel to disperse
and be in bondage, and they carried what light they had. They carried
it all over the place, wherever they went. What's he doing? He's showing
men their absolute inability to receive the promise of God
in Christ. He's showing you your sin. He's
picturing what he's going to do in redemption. That's what
he's doing here. In the history of the whole world,
he's picturing what he's going to do in redemption. You see,
the gospel is a person. Unless I've got the only Bible
in here that says this, mine says the gospel according to
St. John. And it says the gospel
according to St. Matthew. You see what I'm saying?
The gospel is a person. These men were witnesses of a
person. And to receive the gospel before
God will ever show you His gospel, He's going to show you your sin.
Now, just don't even talk to me about believing until you
become aware of your sin. Faith is impossible apart from
that. You're never going to see him.
He illustrated that in the world. Here's a world full of men, millions
upon millions upon millions of men, generation after generation. Some of them even survived in
the flood. He wiped the whole world out, saved eight souls.
What happened on those sides? Kept right on sinning. Huh? Kept right on sinning. You can
go on and on and on. He's showing, before He's going
to reveal His Christ to this world, He's going to demonstrate
beyond all question that we sinners. That's what He's doing. And that's
what He did. And what did John tell them?
All flesh is grass. Take it all the way back to Adam,
it's all grass. And the best, the best of the
lot, go back there and find them, the best of the whole lot, there's
a flower out there in the field. That's just a flower. And the
grass fadeth and the flower, it goes away. How come? Because
the Spirit of the Lord blew on it. That's right. And that's what happens. All
of a sudden you find yourself lost is the word. Lost. Lost. That's this world lost. They go all directions. They're
bound in their darkness and blackness. And they'll never receive Christ
until the way is made straight. All flesh is grass. You see,
a sinner is a man in whom the Spirit of God blows that gospel
wind. That's what happens. He blows
that gospel wind. And boy, everything that we was
proud of, suddenly it just withers up. Everything I had hope in
just withers up. All my best deeds just wither
up. They're not worth talking about
anymore. I can't even find in myself, when the Lord blew on
my heart, I couldn't find a spark of potential in there anywhere
that I could fan it and bring it back to life. A sinner is
a man who sees himself under an unbroken curse of nature.
He's not going to get any better. He discovers that in the Word
of God. I'm in bad shape now, but I'm not going to get any
better. I'm having a few thoughts about
God, and that's as good as I'm ever going to get. That's the
most I can muster up. And then suddenly finds himself
bound in the chains of darkness and confusion and ignorance.
He don't know where to turn. He don't know where to go. He
don't know what the problem is. That's what they mean by lost.
That's what they're talking about. You can't be found until you
get lost. Man don't care about Christ. He don't want to hear
about Christ. He just wants a little fix of religion so he can get
back out and do what he wants to do and go on with his life
and all the people around him feel good about him. He's got no use for Christ. But boy, I tell you, when God
gets you lost, when he brings you down to what the old timers
used to call the end of yourself, into yourself and you see yourself
dead in trespasses and sins, boy then, Christ is sweet then,
ain't He? He's sweet then. And I tell you,
when Christ came into this world, there was a handful that saw
Him and He was sweet. One of them's name was Simeon.
O Simeon, the Lord revealed to Simeon, he was a man who waited
on the consolation of Israel. He knew something about the promised
Redeemer. And God revealed to him that
he wasn't going to see death until he saw the Lord's Christ.
And it says he was led by the Spirit to the temple, and Mary
and Joseph had brought up the baby Jesus, and they were going
to do after the custom of the law. He had to fulfill all righteousness
as our representative. And they brought him up there
to the temple to do after him according to the law. And old
Simeon came over and saw him, and he picked him up, and he
held him, and he said, Now, he said, let us thy servant depart
in peace according to thy word. I have seen thy what? Salvation. Oh, here it is. Here it is. The Word was made flesh. Here's salvation. Right here. Right here. That's what John's
talking about. He's talking about a world passed
by evidence of God, overwhelming evidence of their sin, overwhelming
evidence of their inability to seek God and worship God, their
utter inability even to receive the light God gave them because
of their sin and the blindness of their hearts. And he said,
now here is salvation. Here it is. Pick him up. Put
him up to your bosom. This is salvation. You see, the
glory of redemption is in the Redeemer. That's the glory. Calvinism is not the glory. Christ
is the glory. The glory of redemption is the
Redeemer. And this is what John is talking
about. The Word was made flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Well, we'll take this up next
week. But I want to show you this. When he says, the Word
was made flesh, he said, and he dwelt among us. That's what
we're going to look at next week. That Word is tabernacled. Look
it up in the original. The Word was made flesh and tabernacled
among us. And I want to show you that picture
of Israel back in the wilderness, how God came in that tabernacle. And everything that Israel learned
about God, they learned looking in that tabernacle. On the outside,
he looked just like everybody else. On the inside, the Shekinah
glory of God. What was in there? You read about
it this week, and we'll talk about it next week in the class.
All the glory of redemption, the sacrifice, the authority
of God, the priesthood of God, the bread, it was all in there
in that ark. Sitting under that mercy seat.
All a picture of Christ.