Read verse 1 and verse 14 and
put those two verses together. Verse 1 says, In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Verse 14 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 take each of those two verses
phrase by phrase. Verse 1, In the beginning was
the Word. Verse 14, And the Word was made
flesh. Verse 1, The Word was with God. Verse 14, He dwelt among us. Verse 1, the word was God, was
worth God, and the word was God, and it says, and we beheld his
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth. And that's the message of John
the Baptist here in the first chapter of John. Charles Spurgeon
preaching on this passage of scripture in 1887, five years
before he died, he made this statement to his church. My dear
brethren, I desire to be in the same mold as John the Baptist. I would have my thoughts and
my ministry concentrated on our Lord Jesus Christ, his sacrifice,
his atoning death, henceforth and forevermore. My brethren,
during the little time that I may be spared to lift up my voice
in this wilderness, I would bear witness to the Lamb of God. The years will be short. in which
I shall be permitted to preach to you. But around the cross
of Jesus Christ shall be to me the green pastures, and from
the sacrifice of my Lord shall flow to you the still waters."
Now, many others are dealing with other things. Some, I doubt
not, others with evil intent. I leave them to do their best
or their worst, whatever. But this servant of Christ shall
be separated to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and dedicated
to the atonement through his precious blood. I know no gospel. I know no redemption but by substitution. And I know no substitution but
by the Lord Jesus Christ. John says here in verse 15 of
John 1. Let's move on and take up where
we left off this morning. John says, let me tell you about
him. Let me tell you about him. Verse 15, John bear witness of
Christ. And he cried saying, this was
he of whom I was faith. And he that cometh after me is
preferred before me, for he was before me. Now historically,
John was six months older than the man Christ Jesus. John was
born into this world six months prior to the birth of the Lord
Jesus Christ. But he says, he was before me.
And John is referring to his eternal existence. to his deity,
whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting,
the one about whom we read in Proverbs 8. But turn with me
to John chapter 8 and listen to the Master when he describes
his eternality. In John chapter 8, verse 56,
John 8, verse 56, he says to the Jews, Your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day, my coming into the world. He saw it. He
was glad. Then said the Jews unto him,
Why, you are not fifty years old. Have you seen Abraham? And Jesus saith unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. And that infuriated them, and
they took up stones to cast at him. But John said, He was before
me. He was before all things. For
by him all things were created, and by him all things are held
together. Now verse 16, And of his fulness That's his preexistence. Now his fulness. Of his fulness
have all we received and grace for grace. The word fulness is
another term which shows the absolute deity of Christ, the
sufficiency of Christ and the glory of Christ. His fulness
and of his fulness. I want you to turn to Colossians
chapter 1. In Colossians The word fullness,
fullness, in reference to Christ is used twice. In Colossians
1, chapter 1, verse 19. Colossians 1, 19. For it pleased
the Father that in Christ should all fullness dwell. The fullness. We're talking about all the fullness
of God's glory is in Christ. The fullness of God's grace,
the fullness of God's mercy, all of it, all the fullness of
peace, love, life, purpose, dwells in Christ. All the fullness of
God. Now look at Colossians 2 verse
9. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. If you have Christ, then verse
10 says, and you're complete. If all the fullness of God's
glory, grace, love, mercy, truth, peace is in Christ, and I have
Christ, of his fullness have we received.
His abundance, his sufficiency. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1,
of God are you in Christ, who of God is made unto us. Wisdom,
all the wisdom of God. Righteousness, all the holiness
of God. Sanctification, all the purity
of God. Redemption, all the redemption.
Abundance, fullness, sufficiency. And he says, and grace for grace.
Grace upon grace, grace following grace, favor upon favor, gift
upon gift, you're complete in Him. It's all in Him. And everything that we draw from
God, we draw through Christ. And it's all in Him, of His fullness
that we receive. Verse 17, A lot of these Jews, you see,
were trying to find favor with God through the law, acceptance
with God through the law. Now listen, the law was given,
now the word by, I'm not being picky here now, but you can draw
a line through that word by and put through. The law was given
through Moses. The law didn't come to us by
Moses. The law is not Moses' law. It's
God's law. The law, when we talk about the
law, we're talking about the moral law, the ceremonial law,
the Levitical law. And it was given by God to Moses. And it was given to Israel through
Moses. God gave the law to Moses on
the mountain. He gave it to Israel. through Moses. Moses was a channel
through which God gave the law. But grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ because grace and truth are his essential perfections. In him is life. All the fullness
of God dwelleth in him. The law was given through Moses,
by God through Moses. never originated with Moses,
but grace and truth originates with Christ. He's your grace. He's your truth. You see, if
you'll watch nearly every one of the epistles of Paul, and
the salutation includes two words, grace and peace, grace and peace,
grace and sometimes mercy and peace, grace, mercy and peace.
Almost every epistle begins this way, grace, mercy and peace be
unto you. through Jesus Christ our Lord,
by Christ and by the Father. It comes from him. But the law
didn't come from Moses. It came through Moses. But grace
and truth comes by Jesus Christ. That's what he's saying there.
Now, the law, listen to me carefully. The law is wholly just and good. The law demands obedience, and
the only alternative is death. The law can never justify, the
law can never show mercy, it wasn't given for that purpose.
It was never intended for that purpose. I hear people say, well
the law is a summary of the character of God. It's no such thing. The law is not a summary of the
character of God. It does not reveal all of God's
attributes. The law reveals his justice,
but not his mercy. You ever found any mercy in the
law? There's no mercy in the law. The law doesn't reveal the
mercy of God, it reveals the justice of God. The law doesn't
reveal the grace of God, it reveals the righteousness of God. The
law reveals the truth of God, but not the love of God. The
Bible nowhere says by the law is the knowledge of God. You
can't learn who God is by the law. You can learn His justice,
and His truth, and His righteousness, but not His grace, mercy, and
love. And what's His greatest glory? His goodness. By the law is the knowledge of
seeing. That's why it was given. That's
why it was given to shut us up. What the law saith, it saith
to everyone under the law that we might shut up. that every mouth may be stopped
and become guilty before God. By the law is a knowledge of
sin, not the knowledge of God. You want to learn God? Go to
Christ. Go to the cross. That's where the mercy and grace
and goodness of God... I tell you this, like Paul said to that bunch
of Galatians, he said, you that desire to be under the law, don't
you hear it? Don't you hear the law? What
was the response of Israel when they heard the law? Let's go
to Exodus 20 and see. They were all assembled out there
in front of Mount Sinai and they heard God speak. And I want to
show you the terror displayed at the giving of the law. upon
these people. Look at Exodus 20, verse 18. And all the people
saw the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet
and the mountains smoking. And when the people saw it, they
ran. They removed and stood afar off. And they said to Moses, Would
you speak? Speak thou with us, and we'll
hear. But don't let God speak with us. lest we die. And somebody writing on this
subject said, the terror that Israel displayed at the giving
of the law is the terror felt by every honest person who understands
the law. Terror. And the law came through
Moses. But now look at this line in
verse 17. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Grace and truth. Grace and truth
are inseparable. They're fitly joined together.
You can't have grace without truth. The truth of the cross,
the truth of the resurrection, the truth of the atonement. You
can't have grace without truth. And you can't have truth without
grace. His glory is his truth and grace.
And his grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ. Somebody asked a friend of mine
one time, where in the Bible is sovereign grace? Sovereign
grace. You ever found that word in the
Bible? I found grace, but you ever found sovereign grace? Yes,
it is. Let me show you where it is. It's in Romans 5, 21.
Sovereign grace. Sovereign means it reigns. The
meaning of sovereign is in the word, sovereign, it reigns, Romans
5, verse 21. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign. How? One way, through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. That's sovereign grace.
Grace reigns. Where sin did abound, grace did
much more abound. Now, grace doesn't ignore the
law. No, not at all. We're not making
an enemy here of the law of God with the grace of God. Verse
17, read it again. The law was given through Moses.
But grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. But grace doesn't ignore
the law. And grace doesn't set it aside. Paul said in Romans
3 that we honor the law. We establish the law. I believe
that's where that is. Let's look and see if that's
where it is. Romans chapter 3. Romans 3 verse 31. That's right. That's it. Watch
it now. Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid we establish it. We
establish it. Now how do we establish it? Well,
grace doesn't ignore the law. It doesn't set it aside. It establishes
the law. It honors the law because grace
presents a substitute who loved the law, whose law it is, who
perfectly obeyed it, who endured its death penalty for all who
believed in order that God may be just and justified. But I
don't want any dealings with the law. I want to be dealt with
in grace and mercy by Christ because the law manifests what's
in me, sin. Grace manifests what's in him,
love. The law demands perfect righteousness
from me. Grace brings a perfect righteousness
to me. The law sentences me to death.
Grace raises dead men to life. The law speaks of what I must
do. Grace speaks of what Christ has done. The law gives me a
knowledge of sin, and His sovereign grace comes and takes it away,
separates it from me as far as the east is from the west. This
John preaching, he got a message out of me. He said, this is He
of whom I pray. Now look at verse 18. Now, no man has seen God at any
time, and see what I can do with this, no man has seen God at
any time. In past years, God said that to Moses, you can't
look on me and live. No man, in past years. The fullness of God's glory was
unmanifested. The fullness of God's glory was
unrevealed. And no person had ever seen God
or the fullness of his glory. But now, God is revealed. The Son has declared him. And
in that scripture a moment ago that Brother Chuck read, Philip
said, Show us the Father, and it suffices us. He said, Philip,
have I been with you this long and you don't know me? You've
seen me, you've seen God. You've seen God in Christ Jesus. He that has seen me has seen
the Father. This verse says, verse 18, this
is a summary of all the other 17 verses. No man has seen God
at any time. Abraham saw my day, but he didn't
see God. The only begotten Son which is
in the bosom of the Father. What's that mean? An inseparable
union with the Father. the Father and Son are one, the
intimacy, the oneness, the unimpaired glory of God in Christ Jesus. The only begotten which is in
the bosom of the Father, he hath declared God unto us. He hath declared God. No man
has seen God. You know, the scripture says
something about those men before us desired to look into the things
which are revealed to us. They desired to look into these
things that are so clear to you, so plain to you. They desired to look into them.
Great men, angels desired to look into the things that God
has revealed to you. Let's read these next verses,
just read through them and get some insight into the personality
and humility and character of this witness, John the Baptist.
All right. You know this about him, don't
you? His life and ministry was prophesied in the Old Testament.
His birth was miraculous when his father and mother were both
old. His birth was as miraculous as Isaac's birth. He was filled
with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. His mother, Elizabeth, was related
to Mary, I believe cousins. And Elizabeth came into the presence
of Mary after Mary had been made with child by the Holy Ghost.
And when Elizabeth came in, John the Baptist She was six months
pregnant. He was six months old in his
mother's womb. And when he came into the presence
of Mary, in whose womb Christ had been conceived, he jumped
in his mother's womb, filled with the Holy Ghost from his
mother's womb. He's a forerunner of Christ. You see, this is the problem.
That article I read in Newsweek. Now, this is the problem with
this Coran and Joseph Smith and all these fellas. They claim
to have a revelation right something. And they're the only ones that
wrote it. There's no witnesses. There's no confirmation. There's
no confirmation. I don't know where they got these
sayings from in their own hearts or from the devil or where they
got it. But nobody else knows where they got it. They found
it somewhere in a field or in a cave or somewhere like that.
But the Word of God, God used 40 men. Forty different prophets
of old to write the Scripture, forty of them, most of whom never
even knew one another, and they all said the same thing. And
he didn't find them in a cave somewhere either. And all these
witnesses, the great men God raised up, Abraham and the witnesses
back there, Abel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Isaiah, all of
them had the same message. about Jesus Christ. And what
about themselves? All these fellows, all those
prophets, Mohammed and Confucius and Buddha and Mary Baker Eddy
and Joseph Smith, they talk about themselves. These witnesses talk
about Christ. Point to Him, glorify Him. It's
a message confirmed. Christ said, let me tell you
something. Let me tell you something. Let every word be established
by the mouth of two or three witnesses." He said, in fact,
if I bear witness only of myself, my record's not true. Now that's
going out on a limb, isn't it? But that's what the Master said.
If I bear record of myself, my witness is not true. And you
say that about anybody. If they're the only witness and
the only origin and the only source, forget it. But Christ
said, John the Baptist bore witness of me. God sent this forerunner,
baptized with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb, filled
with the Holy Ghost. He said, the Father bore witness
of me. You heard any of these self-styled
messiahs having a witness from heaven? This is my son. Any of them, when they died,
did the sun refuse to shine? Did the graves open and the dead
come forth? Did the angels come down and
minister to them? The works that I do, did any of them raise the
dead? Christ did. Did any of them heal
the blind? Christ did. None of them did. And the scriptures, he said,
by witness of me, the scriptures here that are given to us and
preserved over these 3,500 years, written by Moses and all the
other Old Testament prophets and apostles. These scriptures
bear witness of Christ. They're not a law given and a
ritual and a ceremony by which you can do certain things and
get to heaven. It's a message of a person to whom you can look
and be redeemed from your sins. Savior, take you to glory, be
with him. And when he arose from the dead,
He appeared to the women at the grave. He appeared to two disciples
on the road to Emmaus. He appeared to the disciples
in the upper room and again to the disciples in the upper room.
Then he appeared to 500 brethren at once, most of whom were still
living when this was written. Not one of them ever recanted.
He arose. Witnesses. Witnesses. I've got a message witnessed
by God, the Holy Spirit, God the Son, and every prophet that
ever lived is true. That's exactly right. And John
the Baptist was sent of God to Israel. And you know he did no
miracles? He didn't do... John the Baptist
never did one miracle. His miracle was his message.
That's right. That's his miracle. His birth
and his message. Special for us. All right, let's
read about him here. This is the record of John when
the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who
are you? Who are you? And he confessed. And he denied
not, but confessed. I'm not the Christ. Can you imagine
one of these self-styled messiahs saying that? Oh, look at me.
I'm not anybody. No. They want to be somebody. He
said, I'm not the Christ. No. They asked him, well, are
you Elias? You know, the prophets said Elias
is to come before Christ. He said, I'm not. Well, are you
that prophet Moses wrote about in Deuteronomy 7 and 18? He said,
I'm not. No. Well, they said, who are
you that we may give an answer to them that sin us? What do
you say of yourself? Now here's the opportunity, John,
to really tell these fellas how great you are. You know, the
Lord said he's the greatest man born of woman. He's saying, I'm
the voice of one crying in the wilderness. That's a true prophet
who loves Christ, who knows Christ, who came to glorify Christ. I'm
a voice crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the
Lord, as saith the prophet Isaiah, And they which were sent were
of the Pharisees. And they asked him then, Why
do you baptize then, if you are not the Christ, you are not Elias,
you are not that prophet? John answered them, saying, I
baptize with water, but there standeth one among you right
now whom you know not, whom you know not, and he it is, he it
is, whose coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoes
latch it I am not worthy to unloose." These things were done in Bethabara,
beyond Jordan, where John was baptized. But now verse 29, here's
where I wanted to get. Here's the moment for which John
was sent. Here's the greatest announcement.
The greatest moment, I say in human history, I say this right
here, this time right here, this event is the greatest moment,
the greatest announcement in human history. This, I say, is
a moment of fulfillment of every promise in the Old Testament,
every prophecy, every type, every picture, every prophet, sent
by God to our fathers, the message of every one. This is the day
Abraham saw. This is the day of which Moses
wrote. This is the shepherd to whom
David looked. Listen. The next day, John seeth
Jesus coming unto him, and he said, Behold, the Lamb of God
taketh away the sin of the world. That's the greatest moment in
human history, that's the greatest announcement, that's the greatest
good news the ears of men have ever heard. He's here! He's here. The Lamb of God. Everything that's
gone before pointed to this moment. He's here to die on that cross
and redeem the people. This is not a theory, this is
the truth of God. This is not an illustration,
this is a proclamation. This is not a suggestion, this
is a commandment. Behold the Lamb of God. Look. Behold. Look to Christ. It's not to understand all the
mysteries of the Word, it's to look. Behold the Lamb of God
that taketh away the sins of the world. It's not to sit around
and determine if I'm one of the elect. Behold the Lamb of God. It's not to work and labor to
be accepted of God, it's to look. John said, Behold the Lamb of
God, look. Well, preacher, I'll go home
and think this over and pray about it. I hope you do, but
praying won't save you. Look and will. That's right. Look into Christ. Well, I tell
you, I'll come back and hear you again. I hope you do. But
hearing me is not going to save you. Hearing him is going to
save you. And look into him. Well, I'll straighten up my life.
I hope you do. That would be a good idea. But
reforming your life won't save you. But look into him well.
That's a glorious announcement. Look! Now, this is not just an ordinary
lamb, this is not any lamb, this is the lamb of God. And a lamb
indicates a sacrifice, doesn't it? And this is a sacrifice of
God, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and
he, by his death, accomplished an effectual work. Listen, he
taketh away the sin of the world, takes it away, effectually. puts it away. Sin is pretty hard to take away,
but he takes it away. He puts away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Look, look to Christ. But John
said, This is he, this is he of whom I said, verse 30, After
me cometh a man preferred before me, for he was before me. He
just keeps saying that, doesn't he? Three times already. He was
before that. You see, who he is makes his
work effectual. It's who died on the cross. That's
why Paul said, who is he that condemns? It's Christ that died.
It's not how much blood he shed, it's whose blood. This is he. In verse 31, he said, I knew
him not, I didn't know him myself. I didn't recognize him earlier.
I just imagined them being related, and Elizabeth and Mary being
related, their paths must have crossed. But John said, I knew
him not. But I did know this, that he
should be manifest to Israel. Therefore I came, fulfilling
my dispensation, my stewardship, my ministry, baptizing with water.
And I bear record. saying, I saw the Spirit descending
from heaven like a dove that abode on him. That's when he
baptized Jesus of Nazareth. The Spirit of God descended.
Now watch this. And John said, I knew him not.
Up until then, I didn't recognize him. But he that sent me, that's
God Almighty, to baptize with water, the same said to me now,
upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending and remaining upon
him. The same is he who is baptized
with the Holy Ghost. God told John that. And John
said, verse 34, and I saw it. And I bear record. This is the
Son of God. We started this day off with
a question. Do you believe on the Son of
God? And that blind man, that man that was blind, made to see,
he said, well, who is he that I may believe? And we've gone
through these messages today telling you who he is. Reliable
witnesses, reliable testimony, truth of God's word. Jesus of
Nazareth, Nazareth is the Lamb of God, he's the Son of God.
And he that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life,
and shall not come into condemnation, was passed from death unto life. God said, this is my son in whom
I'm well pleased. Pleased with his assumption of
human nature, pleased with his whole obedience to the law, pleased
with his sufferings, he pleased God to bruise him, pleased with
his righteousness, pleased with his sacrifice, and pleased not only with him,
but with all his sheep who are considered in him. In the flesh, no man can please
God, but in Christ, God is well pleased with all of us. All right, I pray that's a blessing
to you.