I want you to take this book
that you hold in your hands. This is no ordinary book. This
is the book of books. This is the Word of God. And
I stand amazed. I've been holding this book in
my hand in the pulpit now for over 36 years. But I stand amazed
before its power. I've seen God take the words
preached from this book in great power and change lives and hearts
and homes. I stand amazed before its promises,
so rich, precious promises they're called. Precious, like the precious
blood and precious faith and precious Redeemer, these promises
are most precious. They become more precious to
you as you get older. It becomes more wonderful, the
power of the book and the promises of the book. And then I stand
amazed before the person that this book's all about. I see
more as the years go by of its power. I rejoice more as the
years go by in its promises. And I pray that I may love more
as the years go by its person. This is an unusual book. This
book has overcome the, it's overcome the barriers of time. Where are
the books written by men that are even three or four hundred
years old, five hundred years old, where are the books written
by men? But this book I hold in my hand had its beginning
under the pen of Moses 3,500 years ago. And the last one to write in
it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit was John on the Isle
of Patmos, 2,000 years ago. And yet here it is in its entirety,
in its power, in its beauty, in its glory. Here it is in my
hands. It's the word of God. All scripture
is God-breathed and God-preserved and God-revealed. And here it
is in my hand. Do you wonder I stand amazed?
This book has overcome not only the barriers of time, but the
barriers of nationality. Where the books of men that are
read by other nations, I don't have in my library any books
by Chinese authors. I don't have in my library any
books by people from India, or Pakistan, or Turkey, or Russia, or Japan, but those countries
all have this book. It's been translated in over
1,200 languages besides the different dialects around the world. God
has given it to every tribe and nation and tongue under heaven
by his providence. It's read by people on the streets
of New York and read by black men in the jungles of Africa.
And it tells them all the same story. Isn't that remarkable?
Remarkable. Not only overcome the barriers
of time and nationality, but likewise age. I hear as an old
man in his 60s or 70s or 80s, Feasting on the Word of God and
there sits a little boy seven or eight years old and he's reading
the same book And by God's remarkable grace
they both understand it and rejoice in Christ There's several passages in this
book I want you to turn to the book of John the author John
God used 40 men over a period of 1,500 years to record his word on paper. And he preserved it for us today.
But there's several verses in this Bible that are so deep and
so high and so mysterious and so magnificent, they leave me
speechless. Oh, I can read so-and-so begat
so-and-so and so-and-so begat so-and-so. Such and such was
the condition of the kingdom of Israel or Judah and so and
so ruled at that particular time. I can read those things. But
there are several verses in this book that are so, so high and so deep and so great,
they leave me speechless. To try to explain them would
be like crossing the mighty Pacific in a canoe. I'd hate to be out
there in a canoe, wouldn't you? And yet to attempt to explain
some of the verses in this book would be like trying to cross
that ocean in a dugout canoe. I stand, I can only stand amazed. I can only stand amazed in the
presence of Jesus the Nazarene. Wonder, wonder, wonder how he
could love me. A sinner condemned unclean, and
give me his word. And give me his word. Great is
the mystery of godliness. You understand that? Great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. You understand that? God was
manifest. Scene of the angels. preached
to the Gentiles, believed on in the world, crucified on a
cross, received up into heaven, whereas a man, he sits at the
right hand of the majesty on high. You understand that? That's
too deep for me. That's beyond my understanding. I can't quite lay hold on that.
God was manifest in the flesh. He who made the world was in
the world. He said to to King David, he
said, you going to build me a house? Well, he said, the heaven of
heavens won't contain me. And yet, he was in the world.
Not only in the world, but in the womb of a little Jewish maiden. And then for 33 and a half years,
clothed in human flesh. The angel appeared to Joseph,
a man bewildered and disturbed by the pregnancy of his engaged
Beyonce, soon-to-be wife. And he said, don't, the angel
said, don't be afraid to marry her. Don't be afraid to marry
her. That holy thing which is conceived
in her is the Son of God. The Son of God in the womb of
a 18-year-old girl? I don't understand that, do you?
Call his name Jesus. When he's born, Joseph, give
him the name Jesus, Joshua, for he shall save his people from
their sins. And Joseph, this is all a fulfillment
of Isaiah the prophet, who said that a virgin shall conceive
and bring forth a son, and I shall call that son's name Immanuel,
God with us. God with us? I know there are people who think
they know enough about that even to argue it. Argue about it and
split hairs over it and divide over it. Establish whole denominations
on their interpretations of it. What about this one? In the fullness
of time, in God's own time, he sent forth his son. sent forth
His Son into the world, made of a woman, made under the law,
to redeem them that were born under the law. And look at this
one in John 1, 10. You're looking at it, holding
it there in your hand. Pause a little while and consider
what it says. John 1, 10. He. He. Who? Well, look back at verse 1. It
said, not in the beginning, in beginning. In beginning. Same
verse, it says, in beginning God created the heavens and the
earth. In beginning was this Word. Capital W-O-R-D. The Word. What is a Word? Communication. Vehicle of thought. Means of
expressing what I believe. That's what a Word is. And Jesus
Christ is God's Word. God's revelation of Himself,
God's expression. The express image of God. The expression, the express image
of God. God is who He is. If He wants
to tell us who He is, He'll have to tell us by the Word. And Christ
said, I'm the Word. I'll tell you who God is. He
that hath seen me hath seen God. He that heard me hath heard God.
He that knows me knows God. He's the Word. See what I'm saying? He's the Word. That's what I'm
doing this morning. I'm speaking to you in words.
They're vehicles of thought. They're revelation of thought.
They're expression of what I feel, what I know, what I've experienced,
what God's revealed to me. There's no way for me to communicate
with you except through words. And God has communicated with
the creature, the creature who can't understand God or know
God or approach God or comprehend God. All I need is a God I can
comprehend. I'd have me an idol. And that
God who can have nothing to do with sinners, who's holy and
separate and apart from sinners, dwelling in a light to which
no man can approach. If that God is going to reveal
himself to those sinners, he's going to have to speak in a language
they can understand and come in a form that they can understand,
they can see and touch and handle and hear, and he did. In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word, look at it, verse 1, He
was with God. Glorify me with the glory which
I had with thee before the world was. Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
Don't argue about it, just believe it. No use splitting up into Trinitarians
and anti-Trinitarians and pro-Trinitarians and anti-Trinitarians. It ain't
none of your business. God is who He is. God is Father,
Son, Holy Spirit. Just believe it. Just believe
it. No, you say, I don't understand
it. Do you think you can or expect to? God, the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. He was God. Thought it not, Robert,
to be equal with God, who was in the form of God? The same
was in the beginning with God, and all things were made by Him. And without Him was not anything
made that was made, and in Him was life. Now verse 10, and he
was in the world. And he was, think about that
kid, he was in this world, right here in this world. He was in the world. Look down at verse 14, and the
word was made flesh. The word, that word, it was with
God and was God and in beginning with God. That word, God, was
actually made flesh. This flesh. This flesh, in the
likeness of sinful flesh. God, eternal God, the Son of
God actually robed himself in flesh. He took flesh just like
I took flesh, yet without a human father. that he may not partake
in the fall of Adam or the natural original sin of this race. He
was conceived by the Holy Ghost in a pure virgin womb, but he
was made of woman. God was made flesh. God became
a man. God became lower than the angels. God took on himself this flesh
and bones and blood. God who made woman. from the
side of a man was actually made of a woman. That seed and egg
and so forth went through the same process it went through
when I became flesh. That's right. Holy, perfect,
immutable God, infinite God actually inhabited human flesh. He is a man. He is a man. He was made of a woman. He who
gave the law was actually made under it and subject to it. He
who is the law. He who gave the law. He of whom
the law is the summary of his character. He actually, for a
time, subjected himself to his own law. The judge became subject
to his own law. He who made the son. and the
universe and the earth for a while depended upon that sun for light
and for warmth and for this earth to feed him and sustain him. Think about it. God, who is the
water of life, asked a humble, sinful woman, would you give
me a drink? That fascinates me. That astounds
me. God, I got too much pride to
do that. I have a hard time asking anybody
for anything. And I'm so infinitely beneath
anything that I can even think about Him. He who is above all,
the water of life, who holds the oceans in its boundaries
with His and causes the rain to fall and the streams to flow
into rivers and into the seas and draws it up to the heavens
and waters his crops, stood one day and said, would you give
me a drink? And when he was hanging on that
cross, his mouth dry and parched and his lips broken open, his
tongue cleaving to the roof of his mouth, under that burning
sun, looked down into the face of his tormentors and said, I'm
thirsty. Can you imagine? He was in this
world. God, who's the bread of life
for forty days, felt the pangs of hunger gnawing at his insides. God, who is sovereign over all
creatures and speaks when they breathe and speaks when they
die, who maketh poor and maketh rich, who lifteth up and bringeth
down, who lifteth the beggar from the dunghill and puts him
on a throne, and takes kings from their thrones and puts them
on the dunghill, allowed himself to be harassed. and tempted by
the devil. Are you the Son of God? Then
why don't you make these stones into bread and do something about
your hunger? Are you really the Son of God?
Then why don't you cast yourself off this pinnacle so everybody
will be amazed at you? He'll give his angels charge
over you, that's what he says in the Word. He put up with that. God who made the trees and causes
them to grow and develop from little sticks in the ground to
great oaks to give shade to his people and fruit to satisfy their
hunger. God who made the trees. I think,
said George Kilmer, I'll never see a poem lovely as a tree. Poems are made by fools like
me. Only God can make a tree. But
he who made the trees permitted himself to be nailed to one by nails made of ore that he
put in the ground. And that blood that he took into
his body, into this human flesh, he watched it drip from his body
and fall upon the sand. God, who made the earth, lay
three days in its bosom." You know what that says? He was in
the world. He, whom the heavens cannot contain,
actually was in this world. He was in the world. I tell you,
it says over here that... Who believes this report? Who
believes this message? You believe this? To whom is
the arm of the Lord revealed? You grow up as a tender plant,
as a root out of a dry ground. He has no form or comeliness,
and when we see Him, there's no beauty about Him that we should
desire Him. He's not our God. Our gods are
gods of splendor and power, not weakness. God's of
gold, not flesh. He's despised and He's rejected. Everybody, it was anybody, turned
thumbs down on Him. He's a man of sorrows. He's acquainted
with grief. We hid, as it were, our faces
from Him, and we esteem Him not. But He was in the world. He was
in the world. And I tell you, this is the greatest
news that human ear has ever heard. the greatest news that
tongue can speak, the greatest news that ear can hear. And yet
men today are telling it and hearing it and arguing it as
dry, dead, cold doctrine. Can you imagine that? The greatest
news in the world. Somebody told me one time about
a preacher that had been in a town for a long time. hadn't mounted to much. His minister
hadn't mounted to much. And there was a lawyer in the
town that was very successful, highly successful. He won every
case he tried. So the minister went down to
his office one day at his lunch hour, and he came into the office,
and he said, I'd like to talk to you a few moments. I don't
want to take up much of your time, but I've got a question.
And the lawyer said, glad to see you, Reverend. Have a seat.
So the preacher sat down, and they passed along some light
banter. And then the preacher, he said,
what do you want to see me about, Reverend? Preacher said, well,
he said, I've got a question to ask you. He said, why is it? Why is it that you are so successful? in your work, in your business,
and I'm such a failure. You deal with people, I deal
with people. You deal with the public, I deal with the public.
You're well-respected and successful, and I'm just a failure. Why is
it?" And the lawyer looked at him, he said, Well, Reverend,
I'll tell you what it is. He said, I'll take a lie and make
it sound like the truth. And you take a truth and make
it sound like a lie. That's your problem. Haven't
you heard preachers that made this glorious, wonderful theme
sound like a fairy tale? This is the greatest news! This
is the greatest story that's ever been told! And yet people
are sitting around in little sharing groups arguing it. My
Bible says this, well my Bible says that, well my God wouldn't
do that. This is the greatest love ever
revealed and yet men talk about it with little or no emotion.
This is the greatest song ever written, it's the song of songs. And yet, as John said in his
prayers, too often sung with the lips and not with the heart.
Greater love hath no man than this. that he lay down his life
for his friends. What is it to you, all ye that
pass by? Behold my sorrow and my suffering. Is it nothing to you? My sorrow and suffering with
which my God hath afflicted me. And you pass by and glance up
and go your way. Here's the hope for the hopeless. Here's mercy for the miserable.
Here's grace for the guilty. Here's life for the dead. Here's
healing for the sick. Here's liberty for the captives. He was in the world. He was in the world. Look at
it. He said He was in the world, but the world didn't see His
glory. It says the world was made by
Him and the world knew Him not. He was in the world. He came
into his own. He came to his own country. He
came to his own nation. He was a Jew. Born of the root
of Jesse. Born of the tribe of Judah. Born
of the house of David. Successor of the kings and prophets
and priests. And yet, they didn't receive
him. They didn't receive him. They didn't receive Him. It says
down here in verse 14, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt. You know what that word is? That's
tabernacle. He tabernacled among us. He,
God, tabernacled among us. What's that referring to? It's
referring to that old tabernacle in the wilderness. That's what
it's talking about. The greatest glory of Israel
was the tabernacle. The greatest glory of Israel
was the tabernacle. There it was, right in the center
of the camp. All of the tribes camped around
it. There was the greatest glory of Israel, the tabernacle in
the wilderness. With its old badger skin and
ram skin and goat skin and linen coverings. There was this white
fence of God's righteousness about the courtyard, and there
the altar for the sacrifices and the labor for the washing
and sanctification, and there the Holy of Holies. But the glory
of the tabernacle was the Holy of Holies, the glory of Israel. was the tabernacle, right? That's
where all the sacrifices were made. That was the center of
worship. That's where God met men and
men through the priests met God. There's the glory of Israel.
That's what distinguishes Israel from other nations. They have
a priesthood. They have a tabernacle. They
have an altar. They have an atonement. They
have a way to God. But the glory of that tabernacle
was the holy of holies. into that holy of holies no man
could dare go except the great high priest in that once a year
with the blood sacrifice and the incense. The holy of holies,
the awesome, fearful, holy of holies is the glory of the tabernacle. Preacher, what's the glory of
the holy of holies? The mercy seat. That mercy seat of beaten
gold. flanked by the cherubims, the
winged creatures, and right in the center of that mercy seat,
the Shekinah glory of God. Here focused on this little nation,
this little nation of ordinary people, shepherds and fishermen
and net weavers and cloth makers and merchants and brass workers
in this nation of just ordinary people was a tabernacle. God
had it built. And in that tabernacle was a
holy of holies. And in that holy of holies, a
mercy seat of propitiation. And over that mercy seat, the
glory of God. The glory of God. right here among these people,
Englishmen and Irishmen and Germans and Chinese and Japanese and
whatever, in this nation, God, in this world, God has come.
He's tabernacled among us. The Holy of Holies, the Holy
God is tabernacled among us, and His glory, His His glory,
His redemptive glory, the glory of His character, the glory of
His grace, the glory of His life, the glory of His justice, the
glory of His holiness is centered on and in and of and upon and
in one spot. Jesus Christ, that's God's glory. Glory is not in the doctrines
of a person. His glory is not in His antiquity,
it's in His person. His glory is not in the form
of religion, it's in the person. His glory is not in His law,
His glory is in His Son. That's right. Look around here
at verse 14 again. And the Word actually was made
flesh and dwelt among us. His glory dwelt among us and
we beheld it! We beheld it! We beheld His glory! The world didn't. He was in the world
and they didn't know Him. The Jews, the religious people
didn't see His glory. He walked among them, talked
with them. perform miracles among them,
and they couldn't see His glory. Why, He's the carpenter. We know
who He is. You're a glutton. You're a winebibber. You talk about seeing Abraham,
you're not fifty years old. You cast out demons by the power
of Beelzebub. Crucify Him! We'll not have this
man reign over us. They didn't see His glory. the kings didn't see his glory,
for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of
glory." Well, let me tell you something. It says here, we. We. Who's this we? I'll tell you.
It's some favored people. It's some favored people, some
specially favored people, some people upon whom God has performed
a miracle and given them eyes to see. Eyes to see and ears to hear
and a heart to understand. People God has rescued out of
religion and out of rebellion and out of all kinds of evil. Our Lord said to Peter, whom
do you say that I am? And he said, oh, you're the Christ,
you're the Son of God. He said, blessed are your eyes,
they see, and your ears, they hear. We, a favored people, chosen
of God, favored of God, blessed of God, like the angel said,
Mary, you've found favor with God. Noah found favor with God,
grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah being warned of things not
seen. He saw something nobody else
saw. And we, a highly favored people,
sons of Jacob, sons of Jacob, we've seen the Lord. We beheld. It doesn't say we read about
it. It didn't say we heard about His glory. It said we've seen
it. That's what it says there, doesn't
it? And we beheld His glory. we beheld his glory all hail
Emmanuel divine in thee all the father's glory shines oh may
I come to that place where he unveils his lovely face where
all his beauties saints behold and sing his praises to harps
of gold his glory I want to tell you something
I've seen something I know the whole world runs around
celebrating Christmas. Christmas. They say it's the
birth of Jesus. But I'll tell you something.
There's some people who've seen his birth and then others who've
seen his birth. I've seen in his birth this.
God became a man. God Almighty robed himself in
human flesh. That's what I see in the birth
of Christ. God, the God-man, perfect God, perfect man. God
to satisfy man to suffer. God robed in human flesh. The
second Adam, the Lord from heaven, took upon himself human flesh,
was made in the form of a servant, took upon himself the likeness
of flesh, and became obedient unto death, yea, even the death
of the cross. I see God. in the birth of Jesus
Christ, undertaking to accomplish the redemption of his people,
of all generations, of all nations, of all ages. He had to become
a man. Not as an example, not as a pattern,
not as a martyr, not as a reformer, as a redeemer, as a representative
person, as a federal head of a redeemed race, he became a
man. The law was given to man, man
had to obey it. Justice was upon man as a sentence
of death, and man had to accomplish that sentence and die. And Christ
did it as a man. I see the glory of His obedience.
I see the Lord, our righteousness. A lot of people just see Jesus
Christ the good man. They see Him walking the earth,
and they see Him not sinning in any way, setting for us an
example. I don't see Jesus Christ only
as an example. I see Him as a representative.
By the disobedience of Adam, I was made a sinner. By the obedience
of Christ, I was made fully righteous. Christ Jesus walked this earth.
He obeyed his parents. He did it because I didn't. He
obeyed God's law. He did it because I couldn't.
He fulfilled every requirement of God's holiness. He loved God
with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength. I don't. He loved
his neighbors himself. I can't. He manifested and fulfilled
and accomplished God's perfect holiness and righteousness in
human flesh, tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. And
I see the glory of it! The glory of it! Because he did
it not for himself, but for his people. Nothing God can require
that has not been fulfilled by his Son. Man sinned, man had
to obey. Man sinned, man had to die. I
see the glory of his fulfilling all Old Testament scriptures.
The Old Testament is not a book of history, poetry, love, or
Jewish history. The Old Testament is a picture
of Jesus Christ the Messiah, the Redeemer. Almighty God throughout
the Old Testament tailored a garment to fit one man. He made a crown
that'll fit one head. That's right. He made a uniform
of the priest that will fit one man. All his prophecies and tarps
and pictures part to one man. And that man came. John the Baptist
said, behold, there he is, the Lamb of God. All the sacrifices
point to Christ. I see the glory of his death,
that God may be just and justifier. He didn't die to get people to
feel sorry for him. He didn't only die to pay for
our sins, though he did. He died that God may be just
and justify. His sacrifice was not toward
you, me, or the world. His sacrifice was before the
Lord. The lamb was slain before the Lord. It was God's law that
was broken. It was God's justice that must
be satisfied. And Jesus Christ, as our sanctity
and sacrifice and sin offering, enables a holy God to be just
that. Holy! And love you. Holy! And forgive you. Holy! And accept
you. Because in Christ you are perfect,
if you're in Christ. I see the glory of His resurrection.
He rose! And His resurrection says this,
that the law is honored, and God is satisfied, and justice
is satisfied, because God never would have raised Him if He had
not been satisfied. I see the glory of His intercession. And I'll close with this. Look
at verse 14 again. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. What glory? The glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The old tabernacle was full of
law. Thank God Christ is full of grace. The old tabernacle
contained only types. Christ is the truth. Embodied,
He is the truth. You want to know the truth? Come
to Christ. And He's full of grace and truth,
and it says down here in verse 16, and of that fullness, of
that fullness, He's full of grace. He has full atonement. He has
full justification, He has full righteousness, He has full redemption,
He has full sanctification, He has full victory, He has full
perseverance, He has full glorification, and of that fullness have we
all received grace for grace. That's good news. That's good news. But one verse,
2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, and the
whole world is divided over this man. We're not divided over the law,
we're divided over this man. We're not divided over forms
and rituals of worship, we're divided over this man. That's
right, we're not divided over doctrine, but we're divided over
this man. Who is Jesus Christ? That's what the division is.
Look at 2 Corinthians 4, verse 3. If our gospel be hid, our
gospel's a person, it's hid to them that are lost. In whom the
God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe
not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, whose image
of God should shine unto them. We're not talking about drunks
and harlots here, we're talking about religious people. They
have a religion, just like the Jews of old. We preach not verse
5 ourselves, that's not our message. We preach not ourselves. We got
no gospel. It's Christ's gospel. We preach
Christ Jesus the Lord. Ourselves, your servants, for
Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Christ Jesus. We beheld His glory.