John 1. John 1. Here's my proposition to you
as we go into the Word of God and it's given to us in the title
of our message today. I want you to think about this
if you've never thought about it before. Here's the proposition. If we behold Him, we will adore Him. If we behold Him, we will adore
Him. If God allows us to see Jesus
Christ, I guarantee you, you will adore Him. Multitudes all over this nation
are today celebrating the birth of our Savior. Others are doing
other things on this day. You know that, I know that. But
there are some who are adoring Jesus Christ right now. Isn't
that true? There are others who are also
not only adoring the Savior, but they are adorning Him with
praise and honor and blessing in the same way that the Magi
did in the Gospel of Matthew when these group of wise men
came from the East to honor the King of Kings and Lord of Lords
with gifts of frankincense and myrrh and gold and precious jewels
they draped upon the Son of God. Why? Because they saw his star
in the East. and they couldn't help but adore
him. Not only that, not only did they adore him, but they
came to him. I'm here to tell you that if
we behold him, we will adore him. Have you beheld the Lord
Jesus Christ? Have you seen him in his glory? Has he revealed himself to your
heart? When you do, you will adore him
too. We adore our savior today with
the intangible gifts of heart praise audible expressions of
joyful thankfulness and worship and singing for us who are his
people for those of us who have been touched by his grace his
church his bride his elect this is a special day now mark what
i'm saying now we rejoice in the savior who was born isn't
that right Not so much the day upon which he was born, but the
Savior who was born. And let me also say this. We're
not as enamored as the world is about the child in the manger. I've said this for years and
years and years. There's something wrong with
you. If you leave a man or woman as a child in the manger, every
year goes by. You still constantly remembering
how that child was when they were little bitty baby, eight
days old. Every year goes by. You, you,
you pull out the pictures here, your child, 13, 15, 20, 50, And you're still marveling at
it and enamored by those pictures. No, we don't worship merely the
baby in the manger, but the God who sits on the throne, who assumed
a human nature and came to do great wonders of which we can
barely speak about. That's the one we worship. But
now, don't you fool yourself. His coming into the world at
a particular time, the Bible calls the fullness of time, was
of great significance. It was of great significance.
It was a fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures. The Bible
makes it very clear that, Behold, a woman shall be with child.
and they shall call his name Emmanuel. We sang that, didn't
we? The Bible says, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,
and he shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace, and upon his shoulders shall be the
government. The Bible is clear about the
coming of Jesus. The Bible is clear about His
coming as a man into this world and that we rejoice in. But I want you to know that John,
as he writes the introduction to these portions of his gospel,
gives us a prologue that requires us to think more than about Jesus's
physical birth. And I want you to do that with
me today. I want you to know the purpose for which Christ
came is in order for us to behold him as the God-man and to marvel
at what he did and to love him for it. The first 18 verses of
the gospel of John are what are called a prologue. That is an
introduction into the main subject. And for John, the main subject
was the God-man, Jesus Christ. Matthew spoke about the king
of kings who would sit on the throne of David as the son of
Jesse. Mark spoke concerning the servant,
Ox, Lord, who would come forth Empower doing mighty works to
demonstrate that the kingdom of God had come into the midst
of Israel Luke spoke concerning the son of man the very son of
man who would himself bear our infirmities and our troubles
and sicknesses and he would he would make his life to be among
sinners and publicans like yourself and like myself. He was very
much a man, very much a man. And John, or Luke rather, is
dealing with the humanity of Jesus Christ. But when John begins
to set forth his gospel concerning Jesus, he doesn't open up dealing
with his genealogy, nor does he deal with his childhood, nor
does he deal particularly with Jesus' fame in his earthly ministry. He opens up the gospel of John
dealing with the deity of Jesus Christ. The bible says in john
chapter 1 verse 1 in the beginning was the word And the word was
with god and the word was god and john intentionally closes
out in verse 18 this way Look at it with me. This is the beginning
of our thoughts today folks No man has seen god at any time
The only begotten son which is in the bosom of the father He
hath declared him There are four points that I want us to consider
in our outline, four specific points relevant to what you and
I do, not only today, but every day. For the believer, every
day is Christmas. Am I telling the truth? From
the moment that God raised you from the dead and gave you life
and faith in Jesus Christ and you heard his voice, and you
comprehended something of His redeeming glory. You have been
celebrating the God-man, Jesus Christ, ever since. Am I telling
the truth? So we're not doing anything different today than
we've always done. Behold Him and adore Him as the
Scriptures teach. But this, you guys, is laid out
for us in John chapter 1 as the precise purpose for which Jesus
came. Jesus came for this purpose. This was God's eternal purpose
in Jesus Christ, that we might behold Him. Listen to it again. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. I want you to stay right there
for a moment with me. John spoke something very emphatic
right there He said in verse 18 after a number of statements
that are so profound and relevant We can't develop them now, but
they are worthy of development. I'll deal with four or five verses
in our text John said this and I want you to think about this
God This here is the the construction of the Greek God No, man has
ever seen That's the way he starts off dealing with the importance
of the coming of Jesus. Now what's so important about
that? The Bible tells us from Genesis all the way up to the
coming of Jesus, there were times when God's prophets and his servants
communicated with God. And there were times when God's
prophets and servants had what were called apparitions of God. The Bible tells us in the book
of Exodus concerning the elders that were with Moses on the mount
that they saw God. And then the writer of the book
of Exodus describes what they saw, the feet of God Almighty
in the language of Jasper and Onyx and precious stones. But John says no man has seen
God. And yet the Bible tells us that
Abraham spoke with God face to face. But John says no man has
seen God. And yet the Bible tells us that
Moses was the friend of God and God spoke to Moses as he would
speak to a friend. So what do we have here? Do we
have a contradiction? Does the Old Testament, when
it uses this, what we call anthropomorphical language of God speaking with
his friend Moses or Abraham, speaking to them as it were,
face to face, and yet John emphatically says, God no one has ever seen. What is John doing? John is helping
you and me to understand that God in his purest form, in his,
theologically the word is ontology, his nature, his essence, not
only has never been seen by human beings, can never be seen by
human beings. now there's a very important
context in which he says this he says God has never been seen
by anybody whatsoever at any time as he truly is the only
begotten son which is in the bosom of the father he has declared
him you know what that means that means that Jesus had a relationship
with God Almighty in a way that is par none. No one can claim
the things that Jesus claimed with respect to what Jesus said
about God Almighty, because the writer here, the author here
tells us that Jesus himself not only knew God, he was in the
bosom of God. Isn't that the language? The
terminology indicates perfect intimacy. It indicates perfect
knowledge. It indicates a full and adequate
and total undistorted, unblemished understanding of the person of
whom he is speaking. It means that when Jesus talks
about God, you can be sure that you've heard about God. The man
that is in the bosom of God is himself God. God the Son and
God the Father are so unified in this language of him being
in the bosom of the Father that what John is describing for us
is Jesus's, listen to me now, faithful and perfect testimony
about who God is and what God did. See what John is doing as
he tells us about God is this. He's saying that if we're going
to ever have a right and accurate understanding of God in his pure
essence, we've got to know his son, Jesus Christ. If you're
going to ever have an adequate understanding of the true and
the living God, someone who has been with the true and the living
God must let you know. And then he said prior to this
proposition, but I want you to understand now no mere man has
ever had that kind of relationship. Am I driving home the point?
What John is saying is when we talk about the Lord Jesus Christ,
we are not talking about a mere mediator between God and man. We're talking about the God who
is the mediator between man and God. We are talking about a God
who is just like the one of whom he is speaking without the slightest
variation. That means when Jesus declares
the Father, you have heard everything, you have seen everything that
you are going to ever see or hear about God Almighty. I'm
trying to drive home the point to you because it's so important
for you to know what a blessing it is to see Jesus. John says, no man has ever seen
God quantifiably, qualitatively, perfectly at any time, only that
unique Son of God. This here is a statement concerning
Christ's deity, which is in the bosom of the Father. I want you
to mark that now because I want you to grasp this. What John
has said is, not only was Jesus before his incarnation in the
bosom of the Father, You know, you only really know a person
when you know their heart. Isn't that right? There's a lot
of folks that you think you know, but because you haven't been
able to break through the veil and facade of their schema or
their, as it were, their persona, you don't really know who they
are until you know their heart. What John is saying is the heart
of God is Jesus Christ himself. But more than that, will you
hear me? He's not putting a pastime emphasis on it. He's not saying
Jesus was in the heart of God, but no more. He's saying Jesus
is in the heart of God. That means every time you learn
anything from Jesus about Jesus, you're learning about the heart
of God. John is saying that not only was Jesus in the heart of
God before eternity passed when he created this world in the
time when he assumed the human nature, but he is right now in
the heart of God. Right now in the heart of God.
Now watch this next phrase. I'm doing a little bit of exegesis
on verse 18, just so that you can grasp the import as we make
our way back through the passage. Not only has God never been seen
by anyone in his pure essence, The only one who has seen God
is the one who is in his bosom, who has the very nature of God
Himself, though He is the Son. Watch this. He hath declared
Him. Now the H-I-M, it shouldn't be
in your Bible. He hath made Him fully known. And He's made Him
fully known within a framework of dispensation in time. It's
in what we call the past tense. The Aries tense and what this
means is John is saying Jesus did something by which he made
known the true and the living God once for all Now watch this
He made God known When he clothed himself in flesh and walked this
earth for 30 some odd years Hear me now John is also saying There
will never be any other knowledge of God outside of Christ. There will never be any fuller,
more comprehensive knowledge of the true and the living God
outside of the person and work of Jesus Christ. I want you to
hear what I'm saying. When we read the Bible in the
book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, it tells us
in chapter 22, John says, and I saw a throne. Do you guys remember
that? And I saw him that sat on the
throne as it were a, watch it now, a lamb, a lamb. Do you know what that means folks?
In eternity, you and I will, if you say, you and I will always
be fixed on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the
sinner substitute by which you and I come to understand the
truth of the invisible God. Even in eternity, we will be
wondering for millions and millions and millions and gazillions.
Is gazillion a good word? I know we've been dealing with
trillions in the stock market, but is there such a thing as
a gazillion? Any mathematicians? Olivia, is
there such a thing as a gazillion? Is gazillion a good word? I'm
not talking to our... It's not a good word. It's not
a good word. So that's just a street term we're using. for eons upon
eons upon eons. That's the Greek term, ladies
and gentlemen. You and I shall be marveling at the God who is
so transcendent and incomprehensible and unapproachable and yet within
a narrow sphere of time reach down and touch this human race
so that you and I could be partakers of the divine nature for all
eternity. Can you imagine being stuck on Jesus for all eternity. Isn't that true? Stuck on him. Stuck on him. Stuck on Christ. I'm here to tell you, you and
I have only a smidgen of a knowledge of our Savior right now. John,
under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, is telling you and
he's telling me of the wonder, the wonder of the God-man who
has made God known. Now the Greek term here is a
term we use in theology in our hermeneutics class. It's the
Greek word exegesato, from which we get the term exegesis. When
we exegete something, we expose it. When we exegete something,
we open it up. When we exegete something, we
make it known. When we exegete something, we
explain it. When we exegete something, we
declare it. Jesus is the only one that can
explain God. He's the only one that can declare
God. He's the only one that can make
God know. He's the only one who has expounded the Father. Are you guys hearing me right
now? That's why he said in John 14 verse 6, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No one will ever come to the
Father apart from me. I am the revelation of the invisible
God. But more than that, not only
is he the revelation, he's the revelator. He's the one that
gives the revelation. John said this Jesus gave us
a full revelation of the Father from his birth to his death That
means understanding the person and work of Jesus Christ is critical
to you and I knowing God are you hearing me? I John here is
speaking from the same standpoint that I am. I hope you are too.
He's speaking from a point of jubilation and joy and fullness
himself. Notice John doesn't open up like
the rest of the apostles. He opens up in a wonderment.
He opens up in a marvel. He opens up with a stupefied
and profoundness concerning Jesus Christ. The language of John
is both majestic and eloquent, is transcendent, but it's also
inviting. Wasn't it so that when you first
began to read the book of John, the gospel of John, it was strange
language to you. The semantical terminology was
strange. In the beginning was the word
and the word was with God and the word was God. And there was
nothing that was made that was not made by the word. A strange,
redundant speech to folks like us in the 21st century, isn't
it? But John knew precisely what he was doing. When he started
off the concept of the beginning with the word, in the beginning
was the word. What was John doing? He was explaining
to his auditors that everything has its essence and existence
by this one person, Jesus Christ. You and I know when we read Genesis
1, 1, we hear the reflection of Genesis 1, 1 and 2 and 3 here
in John chapter 1, 1 and 2 and 3, don't we? We know that when
the Bible says, in the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth, we know now that the way in which God created the heavens
and the earth was through Jesus. Isn't that so? He's establishing
his deity then here in John chapter 1 verse 1 because he's dealing
with a certain category of auditors. Three categories of people are
listening to John. You know who they are? They are
the Greeks. Greek folks. The second category
of people that are listening to John are called the Romans.
Romans. The third category of people
that are listening to John are called the Jews. It is for this
reason that John calls Jesus the Logos, the Word. Because God in His sovereignty
as we're dealing with the book of Daniel has moved the nations
together. brought them under the same domain
and territorial region, under the same influence of the Roman
Empire, Greeks and Romans and Jews together under this umbrella
of God's fullness of time. And then he plopped the Son of
God down in the midst of them. This here is the known world,
this here is the religious world, this here is the pagan world,
but this here is the height, the height of world power, the
height of world education. Rome is where everything was
happening. It is in the midst of this people
group that John is saying, Jesus is the one of whom all you pagans
are trying to find out about God. When he uses the phrase
Logos, The Logos in the mind of the Greek is the term for
wisdom, intellect, rationale. All of the Greek philosophers
use the word Logos. John says Jesus is the reason.
He's the rationale. He's the logic. He's the God
that created the heavens and the earth. The Romans talked
about glory. They talked about glory. For
them, glory was the great thing. That's why they seek to conquer
everything and have dominion over everything and to rule everything. John says, Jesus is the glory. He's the glory of God. He's the
glory that you should be pursuing. And the Jews, they talked about
signs and wonders and light. light. They believed in knowledge. John says Jesus is the light
that lights every man that comes into the world. You see what
he's doing? He's shooting at all of these people groups to
let them know that Jesus is the God you need to be seen because
until you see him, you have not seen the truth. And so as he
deals with verse 18, he makes it plain to us that the purpose
of the father, the purpose of the father is to be made known
to the world by his son, Jesus Christ. Here's my proposition.
You can resort to all other interpreters if you will. You know, I was
listening to a young man this morning tell me that he had overheard
a conversation by an individual who had aspired to the ministry,
wanted to be a preacher. But in his pursuit of wanting
to be a preacher, I guess he got disenchanted with religious
folks and argumentations and polemics and debates, and maybe
even the narrow mindedness of Christians who tell the world
that Jesus is the true and the living God and nobody else. And
he decided to bail out and become a Buddhist. You know what he
just did? He just cut the lights off. He
will never ever find God. Will you listen to me? All other
interpreters will give you philosophy, they will give you rhetoric,
they will give you mystery, they will certainly give you confusion,
and they will definitely give you lies and deceit. Are you
hearing me? No light in any of these other
sources. The only light is in Jesus Christ
Himself. Only in Christ is God understood
by men and that according to their need. Now here's the next
question I want us to consider. What did Jesus declare about
God? What did He declare? The Bible
says He hath declared Him. There are two Predominant things
that Jesus declared about God. Here they are. Faithfulness and
truth. Faithfulness and truth. This
is Psalm 40, a Messianic Psalm that speaks of Jesus. He said,
and I have declared your righteousness to the great congregation. I
have declared your faithfulness and your truth. Jesus has made
known to us that God can be trusted. Isn't that right? That's what
the term faithfulness means. Jesus has made known to us that
God can be trusted. Now, what that means is this,
folks. When God speaks, God means what he says and does what he
says. And this is confirmed by the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm teaching my son right now
how to drive. So stay off the road in the Bay
Area anytime you see me driving around with my 17-year-old son.
I'm teaching him how to drive. I try to do it when there's the
least people on the road and no cops around. He's close to
getting his license, but you know how close he is. If you
jump the Grand Canyon and come short one foot, what's the difference
between close? But anyhow, as we're driving,
I live up a two-mile hill, on the top of the hill. It doesn't
mean anything other than inconvenience, believe you me. It ain't nothing
living on top of a hill other than inconvenience. It just means
it takes you 20 minutes to get to the store. I'm tired of it
already, I'm here to tell you. But the problem with living up
on top of the hill is the fog settles on your house first.
See, there are pros and cons with living on the hill. Everybody
got sunshine down in the valley and on the streets. I got clouds
up on my, it's colder up there and it's warm down here. So we're
driving up the hill and this is sort of a surreptitious road.
And going up the hill, I want you to hear me now. There's a
yellow line that you have to follow. The yellow line divides
between the folks going up and the folks coming down. And I'm
telling my son, if you want to make it safe to the house, follow
the yellow line. Keep that left tire in front
of your steering wheel on the yellow line. Don't go over it
and don't neglect it. Will you hear me? Christ is the
yellow line, the glory. If you don't follow that yellow
line, I guarantee you're going off into the cliff. You're going
off into the bushes. You're going to miss your destination.
And particularly when it gets foggy and it gets foggy in life. Am I telling the truth? It gets
foggy in life. And I'll tell you many a time
having to deal. I forget the term of that fog. What's the
name of that fog that they talk about? That Tule fog. I don't
like that Tule fog. That Tule fog is just too close
to a brother. Just way too close. You just
can't see in front of you. But the Bible tells us we walk
by what? And not by what? So we deal with
a tule fog down here all the time. I want you to know that.
Am I telling the truth? But now if God is giving you
a yellow line, you can follow that yellow line and trust that
that yellow line will get you there when your vision is dim.
Jesus is that yellow line. Jesus is the interpretation of
the invisible God. Jesus is that faithful path to
glory when everything else is confounding, confusing, troublesome,
just completely distorted in your thinking. Just keep your
eyes on Christ and you'll make it to your destination. This
here is really what John is talking about when he talks about Jesus
declaring the Father. While it is a Greek term that
is used concerning the technical language of exposition of the
scriptures, really it's simply the fact that no one will ever
know God or right except in the person of Jesus. And the Bible
tells us that he's unfolding two things, God's faithfulness
God's true the fact that you can trust God to get you there
if you rely upon it and you can trust God To be true to his word. These are two terms faithfulness
and truth That you and I don't have by nature Isn't that right? You and I are not faithful by
nature and Neither are we truthful. I love the Bible study that our
elder dealt with last week Pilot acts what is true? He was standing right in front
of the truth and he asked, what is true? You do that when you
are not the truth and when you're not walking in the truth and
when the truth is not revealed to you, you can't see the truth.
Now watch this. Now the truth was right in front of him and
he said to the truth, what is true? And we talked about the
implications of that. And my conclusion was, among
all the other valid conclusions, was this. The reason why Pilate
didn't know the truth was because he was a liar, just like the
rest of us. Am I making a little sense? Will you hear me? You
and I are all by nature liars. See, now, if the Spirit of God
wanted to, He can go to work on us right now. Isn't that right?
Every one of us, by nature, are liars. In the Hebrew, the term
to lie means to fail. It's a verb form that means to
disappoint. It's the idea of waters designated
to come down the stream for the purpose of refreshing the soul,
but never making it. And that's how you and I are.
We might have good intentions, but the fact is we don't have
the power to fulfill those intentions. But God does because God's faithful. The other thing is God is a God
of truth. You know what that means? There's
not part in him that's phony. But that's not true concerning
you and me. Am I telling the truth? I think it's Paul who
said in the book of Philippians that you and I are to be sincere
until the day of Christ. That phrase sincere is a Greek
term that means to be pure and honest and without flaw. It's the language of a A craftsman,
he's a person that works with clay, making shapes and forms. What is that person called? An
artist. He makes statues. What's his
name? A sculptor. He's gonna make a picture or
an image of you. And he says he's gonna use some
of the finest ivory. And he goes to carving and he
breaks off some of the ivory The ivory gets lost and you don't
know it. What he goes and does is purchases
some wax and he fills in the pockets where the ivory is missing
with wax and then paints it over and sells it to you as the true.
But it's a lie. See, that's you and me by nature.
but God is truth through and through. Am I making some sense?
And Jesus is true through and through. And I'm pressing this
home so that you can really advance yourself in your comfort and
understanding of Jesus as your only hope for glory. Our text
tells us that Jesus declares his father's faithfulness and
his truth, and he does it by virtue of our second point look
in our outline by manifestation of his glory how does Christ
declare God to us by manifestation of his glory look at verse 14
and the word was made flesh do you guys see that and dwelt among
us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father full of grace and true here's another profound
statement that John is making he's saying that Jesus declaring
who the father is in his attribute of faithfulness and truth is
done by means of the manifestation of his glory and we beheld his
glory it's another word that evades us if we don't think about
it it's the Greek word dark sauce what does it mean to see a man's
glory What does it mean to see the glory of a person? It means
to see that person in its beauty and in its splendor, in their
perfection, in their work, in their power. To see God's glory
is to see the outshining of God's person. It's to see God in His
beauty and in His splendor. To see God's glory is to see
God in His person And in his work and john says that's precisely
what jesus came to do now saints He does this because he has a
unique relationship to the father as we've already said He is the
only begotten of the father He is the one who is with the father
and therefore he can show us god's glory When john says in
verse 1 of john chapter 1 In the beginning was the word and
the word was with god That term with is a term that means equality
with God. It means unity with God. It means perfect fellowship with
God. And it also means that he qualifies
therefore to tell us about God. In my study of the Greek years
and years ago, Dr. Terrell would tell us that when
you use that Greek preposition pro, what you are describing
the relationship of the invisible God and the son of God is the
profile of God, that Jesus is the profile. the Father. He's the profile of the Father.
You can use that in a technical sense. When you draw up a profile
of a person, you draw up everything about who that person is. Jesus
is the profile of the Father. Some of the theologians say this
concerning that proposition prose is that Jesus looked the Father
in the face. They saw face to face. the real
sense are you hearing what I'm saying and then I'm reminded
of what the Proverbs says in Proverbs 27 verse 19 as water
answereth to face so the heart of man to men have you ever looked
in the water and you saw your face your reflection right now
that's a bad analogy but that's the best we can do you can see
your face but for you and I it's what distorted Jesus When we
see Jesus, we see an undistorted and unblemished and a flawless
representation of God Almighty. Are you hearing me? That's what
the language means. And this allows Jesus to be the
one that reveals God in terms of his glory. What is John saying
when he talks about, and we have beheld his glory? What is he
talking about? Well, he's talking about the
manner in which Jesus came and the manner in which Jesus Perform
those works by which his father was confirmed and by which he
was confirmed to be God's Messiah You'll notice that through the
book of John John would say things like he did in John chapter 2
and and this was the beginning of the glory of God in the work
of Jesus Christ. This is where Jesus began to
manifest His glory. Remember what He did the first
time He manifested His glory? We talked about this a few weeks
ago in Sunday School too. He turned the water into wine.
The Bible says, and then the disciples believed on Him. What
does it mean then when Jesus is the one by whom we behold
God's glory? Jesus is the one who is able
to operate out of the power of God Almighty in such a way that
we can see that God is present. He turned the water into wine
in a split second. He opened the eyes of the blind.
He raised the dead. He healed the sick. Not only
are we beholding the glory of God in terms of Him doing these
miraculous works of power, but we are beholding the glory of
God when we hear Him speak. Has ever a man spoke like Jesus? Has ever a man preached with
the boldness of Jesus? Has ever a man spoke so right
about God as the Lord Jesus Christ? No one. No one. And therefore
when you hear Christ's words, when you listen to his exposition
of truth, listen to me, you are beholding the glory of God. Jesus
said things about God, listen to me now, that no one else could
say. He'd say things like, he says,
I know what I'm talking about. We know what we're talking about.
And I do those things only that my father hath revealed to me.
Now listen to me. Either you are God in the flesh
or you're a nut when you talk like that. Are you hearing me? We know what we speak. We know
what we say. He speaks in the first person
plural. What is he talking about? That unity between himself, his
father, and the Holy Ghost, and all that he did by which he could
say we. Now last week I told you my children
speak in the second person, the third person. Joanna did this,
and Rachel did this, and Glo did that. Glo's talking to me,
talking about Glo. Now, you know, we allow for that.
We allow for that. But once I hear my children start
saying we, When it's just them, then we know we got a problem.
But Jesus can use we because when he speaks, he speaks for
the Father and he speaks for the Holy Ghost because the triune
God are always one. Am I making some sense? John
says we beheld this. We beheld the glory of the only
begotten of the Father. Now, I want you to notice the
content full of grace and truth. That's our third point, the content.
full of grace and truth. Full of grace and truth. It's
through these two heads of doctrine, children of God, that Jesus is
manifesting the glory of his father. And these two heads of
doctrine are designed to help us understand why he does it.
He does it in order that sinners might be able to gaze upon God
in Jesus Christ, Behold God's attributes and his work of redeeming
sinners. Now watch this and not perish.
Listen to it again. 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 what grace and truth. Listen, because of these two
attributes, sinners can look at God. You know the Bible tells
us no man can see God and live, isn't that right? But because
of these two attributes, grace, what is grace? It's God's gift
to us. What is truth? It's God's faithfulness
to us. These two attributes dominate
all the other attributes that are flowing out of Jesus Christ
by which you and I, you and I can look upon God. What John is saying
is now Jesus becomes the mediator. by which you and I can experientially
enter into a reflection, a consideration, a meditation upon. The word gaze
means to look upon him and not be consumed. Now, mind you, Jesus
is still a consuming fire. He's still a purifier of the
sons of Levi. He still has eyes of a flame
of fire. But will you hear me? If you
have the privilege of beholding the Son, you now can behold God
and not perish. What are you beholding when you
behold the glory of God? You're beholding the person and
work of Jesus Christ. You're beholding how God assumed a human
nature, became just like us. What a profundity. We call it
the hypostatic union. How can infinite God Assume a
human nature without something in his godhood changing or something
in his manhood changing We can't ever answer that mystery, but
we can answer as to why he did it He did it in order that you
and I can know him and not perish. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
See, now we can talk about God confidently because we can talk
about the God-man. Am I making some sense? See,
you and I are men, just like the Lord Jesus Christ was a man.
And so when Jesus took on our humanity, He put on the weakness
of the flesh. The weakness of the flesh. Jesus
knew something then about our tiredness. He knew something
then about our weakness. He knew something then about
our limitation. And by virtue of that veil of
his human nature, he could communicate to us divine truth through the
prism of his fallen nature. And you and I be able to say,
I got that. I got that. See, if God talked to you from
his pure essence, he'd be speaking in tongues to us. Am I telling
the truth? Because he is so totally different than us by nature.
We could never understand God. Except through the prism and
grid of the Son of God who took on flesh This is the reason we
worship and rejoice in the birth of the Son of God He put on a
human nature so he could relate to us He could relate in my life. I remember prior to being saved
all I could imagine and conceive in my mind was darkness and From
the time I was a little child and was conscious about life
until the moment God saved me, everything about my life was
darkness. I didn't have the privilege of growing up in a Christian
home. And therefore, I didn't have the privilege of the Bible
being taught me. I didn't have the privilege of being plagued
by parents that loved me enough to beat me over the head with
the truth. Yeah, you know, that's a privilege because now you have
two worldviews in your system by virtue of God's providence
through your parents. That's a good thing. That means
when you go to acting a fool because of your fallen nature,
the truth is screaming in the right side of your brain. Daddy
said this, mama said that, and they said it from the hand of
God. Am I telling the truth? And sometimes that checks our
young people. But when you don't have these
two worldviews in your mind, all you're operating out of is
the carnal principles of your fallen nature. And unless God
in his providence comes along and stops you, you just continue
spiraling down into more and more darkness. Am I making some
sense? So I didn't have that until the time when God in his
mercy allowed the gospel to begin to be being preached to me by
my wife. She had no business with me whatsoever. And yet God in his mercy Took
that little naive, silly teenager and let her with her little white
Bible. Stop beating me over the head with Jesus. Do you hear
me with Jesus? I'm still acting a fool, but
I'm being convicted by a revelation. Are you hearing me? I'm doing
what I'm doing, but I'm also being distracted by a revelation. You know what that revelation
is? A man who calls himself God. I'm lost, I'm unsaved, but I've
got light now. And every now and then I'm thinking,
what did he mean when he said men love darkness rather than
light? See, when you're in the hood
and you're doing darkness at one o'clock at night, and those
kind of verses come to your mind, and they had never come before,
they wrap you up, they hem you up, they shut you up, they trouble
you. You know, I think I better go on to the house. It's a little
dark out here. And I'm hustling to get home, because I know what
could happen between my desire to get home and getting home.
And I remember how it just slowed down. The darkness just slowed
down. The more I got beat over my head
by that little white Bible, The more it started slowing down.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? This is what the gospel does
when it comes to sinners in the preaching and exposition of Jesus
Christ, who is none other than God. When we start telling men
and women about the Savior, the Savior then can effectually connect
with sinners. Effectually connect with sinners
by the power of the Holy Ghost. I want you to see this Give me
a few more minutes of your time Notice what John says we beheld
his glory the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of
grace and true now Will you look with me over in verse 16? Are
you there and of his fullness? Have all we receive That's what
I'm talking about Elder do you believe it? That a person who
had never heard the truth before wasn't looking for the truth
I wasn't looking for the truth when I was messing with barbara
owens But god was looking for me And
he took out his hammer and caught me right in the midst Boom, it
hit me upside the head with the truth. Are you hearing what i'm
saying? Can I tell you what was happening?
I was receiving of his fullness I was receiving of His fullness. See, it pleased God that in Jesus
Christ all the fullness of the Godhead bodily should be. It
pleased God that in Him. And it pleased God to make it
that Jesus would be the means by which sinners who are not
looking for Him would find themselves experiencing the saving, the
drawing, the condemning grace of God, opening up your mind,
bringing about a conflict in your soul and causing you to
ask questions you would have never asked before. Am I making
some sense? And of His fullness have all we receive. Now notice what John says, in
grace for grace, isn't that what it says? Can I tell you what's
going on there briefly? John is saying of his fullness
Jesus Christ intentionally when he begins to draw sinners dumps
upon them his grace and grace for grace the verb form there
means grace upon grace upon grace upon grace upon grace upon grace
upon grace upon grace upon grace have you ever experienced that
what God you know you didn't deserve it in grace come you
know you didn't deserve it and grace come you know you didn't
and grace comes I'm hearing the word, I'm acting a fool, but
I'm still hearing the word. I'm backing up a little bit,
but I'm still acting a fool, but I'm hearing the word. Then
I get locked up and then I hear the word even more. Are you hearing me? What God
is doing is pouring his grace upon me. Now I'm talking to God. I never talked to God in my life.
Now I'm talking to God. All right, Lord, you know, I
can't get you out of my mind. Still hear your word, and I'm
in this trouble. I don't know if you get me out.
I'm yours You know what he does brother man dump more grace on
You know what happens they open it up and let me out. I said
man God did that He let a brother out so a brother gets out. I'm
committed to God. I'm absolutely committed to God
for about three days I But God's been committed to me
from all eternity. He chose me in Christ He determined
to save me by his grace He predestined my course and he hunted me down
and put the handcuffs of grace on me in the appointed time And
so I'm running from him still, you know, if I can just do a
few more deals I just want to make a hundred G if I can make this
hundred G then I'm gonna pull out Why cuz I'm not born again
yet. I I'm illuminated, I'm being
drawn, but I haven't been born again yet. Are you hearing what
I'm saying? Or maybe I've been born again yet, but God hasn't
subdued my nature and taught me how desperately a sinner I
really am. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
So I continue to do my little thing. And then God finally just
pushed the big hammer down. I quit. Arrested in the name
of the Lord by the grace of God by the power of God. I'm ready
now. I'm done God Help me help me
to change my life. I'm in darkness. I don't know
my way out I'm going to hell if you don't be still see that's
what he does He teaches you to confess your sins and to acknowledge
his righteousness and to seek his mercy. Am I making some sense?
That's the way that God does it I want you to see it in the
closing of our text. This is what we call, I've already
jumped into that portion, the effects, the effects of the glory
of God, the effects of the glory of God. See, when the Bible tells
us over in verse 17, for the law was given by Moses, but grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ. John would say Moses in all of
his glory was woefully inadequate in accomplishing what only Jesus
could accomplish. You know, Moses brought the law,
but he brought that law on two tables of stone. The law of God
on tables of stone is not enough to save a guilty hell-bound sinner. Moses could only bring the tables
of God's precept down to men. He couldn't even embody within
himself an example of obedience to those precepts. That's a pretty
bad testimony, isn't it? Here he got a million, 800,000
heathen. That's what those Jewish people
were, heathen in the wilderness. He brings down two tables of
stone and say, this is what God tells you to do. Here, do it.
They broke that law before he got off the mountain. Isn't that
right? This is what John is saying.
Moses gave you the law, but it was inadequate. Jesus brings
grace and truth. Jesus doesn't bring us a law.
He embodies the law. He not only embodies the law,
he fulfills the law. Am I making some sense? Not only
does he fulfill the law. Will you hear me now? He embodies
God himself. Not only does he embody God himself,
He dispenses God to us. What a mediation! It's one thing
for me to tell you about this book. It's another thing for
the Holy Ghost to impart to you the divine nature of the one
of whom this book talks about. Am I making some sense? And that's
what Jesus did when he came. He came and poured upon men such
grace that they became partakers of the divine nature. Pastor,
what happens when that occurs? I want you to see it with me
over in verse 14. I'm done. Listen to it. Are we
there? John describes the natural condition of all men when the
light comes into the world. verse 10 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 saints that's
not true only of the jews that's true of the gentiles too be sure
of that but do you see verse 12 as many as what received watch
this now him you got it him When the Bible says, and of His fullness
have we all received? Christ is that fullness. When
you receive Christ, you receive God Himself. The truth and the
grace and the faithfulness and the truth that we talk about
is a person. That person is Jesus. When the
Spirit of God takes this Bible we proclaim, It makes it effectual
to your heart. What invades your soul, will
you hear me, is the Son of God. The Son of God comes in by the
Holy Ghost. He's the Spirit of Christ and
he takes residence in your heart. Am I making some sense? He sits
on the throne of your soul and he begins to govern your life.
All of a sudden now you're ruled by another authority. But as many as receive them,
received him. To them gave he the authority
to become what? The sons of God. Now why has
your conversation changed? Why has your worldview changed?
Why are your affections changed? Why are your plans changed? Why
has your agenda changed? Because Christ has entered into
the heart. took his seat on the throne of
your whole personality and began to lead you in a direction you
would never go on your own. Am I making some sense? As many
as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of
God, even to them that what? Believe on his name, which were
born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man, They were born of God. That's the reason he came
into this world, that we might be born from above. And we rejoice in that, don't
we? We rejoice in that. If you behold him, ladies and
gentlemen, you'll adore him. Amen.