I want you to open your Bibles
with me now to the book of John, the first chapter, and let me
read my text, verse 14. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth." Here's the best news a man ever heard. The best news
a man ever heard. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Christ came into this world.
The best news a man ever heard. And we get up and preach it like
it's dry, dead, cold doctrine that somebody told 400 years
ago, don't we? And I thought to myself, here's
the greatest love, God so loved the world, Christ having loved
his own, loved them to the end, loved them to death, even the
death of the cross. Here's the greatest love that
God Almighty has ever manifested and revealed to men, and we talk
about it with such little feeling. and with such little emotion.
And we're not moved very much and our congregations move less.
Isn't that sad? So sad. And here I thought to
myself, here is the song of songs. Here is the song of songs. Here
is the song of Moses and the Lamb. Here is the song of redemption. Here is the song of heaven. Here
is what they're going to sing throughout eternity unto Him
who loved us. washed us with His own blood
from our sin, with His own blood, made us kings and priests unto
God. Here's the song of songs, and we sing it. We sing it with
our lips, and we sing it with a certain amount of gusto, but
there's so little heart in it, so little heart. I'm convicted
about it and troubled about it. Here's hope for the hopeless.
Here's mercy for the miserable. Here's grace for the guilty.
Here's salvation for sinners. Here's God's good news. And it
just seems like that we can't get our hearts into it. And I
prayed. I prayed this prayer. I wrote
it down. I said, Lord, give us an eye
to behold the glory and beauty and excellence of Christ Jesus.
Give us an eye to see. what John saw when he said, that
which I've seen and heard declare unto you. Give us an eye to see
Christ in His fullness, in His glory, in His beauty. Give us
an ear to hear Him, not just hear a man, but to hear Him speak
through His Word. This verily is the Word of God. What did Paul say when he preached
to those people? He said, I thank God you heard
the Word, not as it were the Word of men, but the Word of
God Himself. The Word of God Himself. And
I prayed, Lord, give me a heart to love it, to love it, to become
obsessed with it, obsessed with Him and with His words, and a
tongue to tell it to all the world. And I said this, if God
can take an unlearned, uneducated man like John, the son of the
fisherman Zebedee, and use him to write these glorious divine
words, why can't he give me the eloquence and the power to preach
it? I believe he can. I believe he
can. But I believe before I can present
that fire to someone else, that fire's got to burn in here. I
believe before I can preach the beauty of Christ, I've got to
see the beauty of Christ. Before I can proclaim the glory
of Christ, I'm going to have to myself bathe in that glory
of Christ. Let's go back to this passage
of Scripture and let's ask God to enable us tonight to see as
we've never seen before the beauty and glory and excellency of His
blessed Son, of His divine Son. If you start at verse 1, and
this is where you must start, if any message is from God, any
message that is of God, any message that's related to God, any message
that is related to the purpose and work of God, has to begin
with God. Teach God's spiritual truth. If we're going to teach about
God, shouldn't we begin with God? And that's the way John
begins this book of John here. He begins this way. In the beginning
was God. In the beginning was the Word.
That's Christ. In the beginning was the Word. And that's the
way Moses began his writings in Genesis 1. Over here in the
first chapter of Genesis, he says, In the beginning, God.
That's where we start. We don't even start with salvation.
We start with God. We don't even start with man.
We don't even start with sin. We start with God. We don't start
with heaven or hell, we start with God. Anything, any message
that's from God, or of God, or related to the purpose and work
of God, must begin with God. That's where we start. In the
beginning, God. In the beginning, God. Let's
look at a few Scriptures. Look at Isaiah 46. In the beginning,
God. And here in Isaiah 46, listen
to what the Scripture says here. Isaiah chapter 46, verse 9 and
10. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God, and there's none else. I'm God, there's none
like me. I declare the end from the beginning."
I declare the end from the beginning. Everything related to us from
God, every benefit and blessing we have from God, every revelation
from God, he said, I declare it, all those that shall take
place even to the end. God said, I declared them from
the beginning. I declare the end, I declare
the start, the middle, and the end from the beginning. And from
ancient times, the things that are not yet done, saying, my
counsel shall stand, I'll do all my pleasure, known unto God
are all His works from the beginning. Now turn to II Thessalonians. In II Thessalonians chapter 2
verse 13, listen to this. But we're bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, Beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning, from the beginning chosen you
to salvation. Who did it? God did it. It all
begins with God. So, if we're going to talk about
the things of God, If we're going to talk about heaven or hell,
if we're going to talk about man and sin, if we're going to
talk about salvation, if we're going to talk about grace and
mercy, if we're going to talk about anything related to God
or of God or from God, we've got to begin with Him, with Him. Who is God? Who is God? Well, here we go, in the beginning.
In the beginning, back before the morning stars sang together,
back before God made man and put him in the Garden of Eden,
back before God fashioned this world and separated the land
from the water, back before the angels' wings somebody said fanned
the ether, so forth and so on. In the beginning was the Word,
was Christ the Word. And He's called here the Word
because He is the revelation of the Father, He is the Word
of the Father to men. He is the message of the Father
to men. He is that prophet sent from
the Father. He is the only way that any man
can know God is through Christ. And in the beginning was Christ.
And He was with God, and He was God. The same was in the beginning
with God, and all things were made by Him. Turn to Proverbs
chapter 8. Proverbs the 8th chapter. And
this talks about wisdom, but it's talking about Christ. This
is Christ here in Proverbs 8, verse 24. Now this word we're
talking about down here, made flesh, that's where we're coming
to, the glory of Christ in redeeming His people. But if we're going
to preach Christ, if we're going to preach a redemption, if we're
going to preach anything as being the gift of God or the blessings
of God or God has conferred this upon us, we've got to go back
and start with God. That's where it all, it all begins with God.
And here He says in Proverbs 8, verse 24, When there were
no depths, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills was I brought forth. This is the Word we're talking
about. This is the Christ we're talking about. This is Christ here. He's talking
about Christ here in the beginning. In the beginning. Before God
made anything, in the beginning was the Word, that's Christ.
And this is who he's talking about here in Proverbs 8, in
verse 25. Before the mountains were settled,
before the hills was I brought forth, while as yet He had not
made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest parts of the
dust of the world, when He prepared the, watch it, the heavens, I
was there. This is our Savior. This is Jesus
Christ. This is the one who died on the
cross. This is the one who walked the hills of Judea. This is the
one who worked in the carpenter's shop. This was the one who was
born in Bethlehem's manger. This is Christ. While as yet,
listen, before the hills I was brought forth, in verse 27, when
He prepared the heavens I was there, when He set a compass
upon the face of the depth, when He established the clouds above,
when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, when He gave to
the sea His decree that the waters should not pass His commandment,
when He appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was by Him
as one brought up with Him. I was daily His delight, rejoicing
always before Him. That's Christ. Now turn with
me to John 17. And here is what we call the
priestly prayer of our Lord, our Master. And he says in verse,
let me read the first several verses. John 17, verse 1. These words spake Jesus, and
lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is
come. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. as
thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life
eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent. Now, I have glorified thee on
the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to
do. Now watch this. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. What I'm saying here is down
here in verse 14, when we start out verse 14, which is my text,
and the Word was made flesh. I'm talking about this Word is
Christ who said, I and my Father are one. And this is the Christ
who was every appearance of the Father in the Old Testament,
every appearance of God in the Old Testament is Christ, every
appearance. And this is Christ of whom it said in Colossians,
turn to Colossians chapter 1, this is the Christ of whom it
said in Colossians verse 16 or verse 15, who is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, for by Him,
by Christ, were all things created. that are in heaven, that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether it be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him
and for Him, and He's before all things, and by Him all things
consist, and He's the head of the body, the Church, who is
the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things
He might have the preeminence." That's who we're talking about.
That's who we're talking about. Verse 14, and the Word, and the
Word. and the Word. And this Word,
the communication of God, the revelation of God, this Word
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And the disciples said to Him
one day, Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. He said,
He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. Now this is the one
of whom we speak, the one that was crucified, buried, and rose
again, who ascended to the right hand of God, our Lord and our
Savior, is verily God Himself. He is God Himself. He is the
Creator He is God, He says, I am the Father One, He has seen me,
He has seen the Father, and that's who we're talking about, in the
beginning, in the beginning before all things was Christ, in the
beginning. Oh, let's go back to verse 14
now. It says, in the beginning, and the Word who was in the beginning
was made flesh, and the Word here dwelt, is tabernacled, He
tabernacled among us. He tabernacled among us, and
we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth." Now let's take this verse just
almost word by word. And the Word. And the Word, who
was with God, who was God, who is God. And the Word was made
flesh. You talk about miracles, you
talk about wonders. There's the wonder of creation.
How God Almighty spake everything out of nothing, just the stars,
and the moon, and the sun, and the clouds, and the earth, and
the oceans, and all these things God spake, and it appeared, everything
created by the Word of His Father as a wonder of creation, and
then this wonder of life, the wonder of life when He made Adam
a man out of dust, And there was the form of that man, and
God breathed into his breath, into his nostrils the breath
of life, and he became a living soul. There's the wonder of life.
There's the wonder of reproduction. There's a wonder, all these wonders
about us. But I believe the wonder of wonders
is incarnation. God became a man. I believe,
I believe of all the wonders of this world, if you say, you
take You stand and look at the heavens and how wonderful and
marvelous, and David looked at his own body and said, how wonderfully
I am made. But I'll tell you, when you think
about this, and the Word, what we're talking about back here,
in the beginning was the Word, God, God, in whom everything
lives and moves and heavens is big, by whom all things consist,
by whom all things were made. He was made flesh. He became
a man. God became a man. That's what
we're saying. The Word became flesh. God Himself
became a man. Turn to Galatians 4. This is
exactly what we're saying. And it's the wonder of wonders.
Jesus Christ was not a messenger. He's not just a son of God. He's
not just an unusual human being. Like John the Baptist was born
after his mother and daddy were old people. It's a marvelous
birth. But Jesus Christ's birth is not
just a marvelous birth. And Isaac was born after Abraham
and Sabaoth passed the age of a barren tree. And that was a
miracle. It was a marvelous thing. But
when Jesus Christ came from the womb of Mary, and they wrapped
Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger." That was
God in that manger, that's what I'm saying. God in human flesh,
and that's what this is saying. And I believe this. We call it
old-fashioned, we call it first century theology. It's older
than that. It's as old as God. It's theology
that goes back to Isaiah and Abraham and Moses. I'm saying
that when that baby, listen to Galatians 4 verse 4, when the
fullness of time, that is the promised time, the predicted
time, the prophesied time, in God's own time, when the fullness
of time was come, God actually sent forth His capital, S-O-N,
Son, made of a woman. He's the one that made the woman. He made all these things and
then He made man. So it was not good for man to
be alone, put him to sleep, took out of him a rib and made a woman. He made a woman out of that rib.
And here out of that woman that was made of that rib by the hand
of God, God Himself came forth as an infant. That's so, that's
what the words teach, that's what I'm saying, miracle of miracles,
astounding wonder. He was made of a woman, made
under the law. Jesus Christ actually became
bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. He became a man. A
man. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians
15. Now then, you say, well everybody
knows this. Try this out tomorrow down the job. Try it out sometime. You did one time, didn't you?
Remember that when I said, go to work and ask somebody at work,
don't pick just a regular old drunk out there on the job, but
pick a fellow sitting over there eating lunch, reading his testament.
And ask him, just ask him, if he believes that Jesus Christ,
don't ask him if he believes he's the Son of God. Ask Him
if He believes He is God Almighty. He is actually God Almighty,
the One who created the world, the One who made man, the One
who breathed into man the breath of life and became a living soul.
Ask Him if He is God Almighty and see what He says. It may
fool you. It just may fool you. But we're talking about this
Jesus, God, became a man. The Word, and it starts out back
here as I said to you, in the beginning was the Word. Just
like in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In
the beginning God chose us to salvation. Known unto God all
His works from the beginning. Everything begins with God. And
this One who became a man is that God who is in the beginning.
He's a man. Now look at 1 Corinthians 15,
21. Since by man came death, that's Adam. By man, by a man
also came the resurrection of the dead. Jesus Christ became
a man. That man, that baby in that manger is God Almighty in
human flesh. I can't explain it. I don't understand
it. I can't comprehend it any more
than I can comprehend God deserting God on the cross. I just know
it's so. That infant is God Almighty in
human flesh. That man working in the carton
to shop with that saw, that's God Almighty in human flesh. That's God Almighty. Look at
1 Corinthians 15, verse 47. Verse 47. The first man, M-A-N,
is of the earth, earthy. The second man, M-A-N, just as
much a man as that first man. Just as much a man. Our Lord
Jesus Christ, I stop and look sometimes at this flesh, and
I say, you mean He had this same flesh? This same flesh? He got up in the morning and
brushed His teeth and combed His hair and put His shoes on
and took a bath and ate His breakfast and drank whatever they drank,
juice or something, and then went to work and sweat poured
down and got in His eyes and He wiped the sweat. He knew something
about temptation. He knew something about thirst
and hunger. Yes, sir. The first man is of
the earth earthy and the second man is the Lord from heaven. That's exactly who He is. That's
a wonder. I'm saying that's the wonder
of wonder. Incomprehensible wonder. And not only that, now let me
shake you up a little bit. On the right hand of God, and
I can't explain the Trinity, I'm not going to tackle that,
I never would. We preach in part, we understand in part, we know
in part, one day we'll know as we've known. But it says in 1
Timothy, if you turn over there with me a moment, 1 Timothy chapter
1. And this is what I'm saying, being able to preach this with
some kind of interest. Some kind of emotions, being
able to hear it with some kind of compassion or some kind of
joy instead of just, well, that's our doctrine. Brethren, I'm telling
you, this is a whole lot more than a doctrine. This is an amazing
miracle. The disciples didn't believe in the doctrine of the
resurrection alone. They walked with a risen Lord.
They walked in amazement. I won't believe it, Thomas said,
until I see you nail-punching his head. I ain't going to accept
that just because somebody said it. Now then, what did he say? Why do we accept it? Just because
somebody said it. Well, it's what most of us have done because
it doesn't thrill us, it doesn't excite us. You mean there's a
man arose from the grave, actually a man died, died dead, like Barnard
said, like my dog Rover, when he died, he died all over. He
died dead and they buried him. He actually arose, came out of
that grave, yes sir, to die no more. Then I may too, huh? If one man did, I can't. And
that man actually ascended, and this is what it says in 1 Timothy
2, verse 5, there is one God and one mediator between God
and men, the man, Jesus Christ. Who? A man. There is a man on
the right hand of Jesus. There is a man. Listen to me.
There was actually a man, and like I say, I can't explain the
Trinity. We are not going to see three gods. Don't believe
that. And sitting on the right hand of God is not like we visualize
God the Father in the middle and the Son over here on His
right hand and the Holy Spirit on His left hand. That's not
it. This right hand is saying authority. It's speaking of authority. It's speaking of preeminence.
It's speaking of the position of love and power and authority
and preeminence and all of this. We'll only see Christ. But do
you know who we're going to see in heaven? The man, Christ Jesus. That's astounding. This is what
I'm saying. We've got a ritualistic creed. We've got something somebody's
taught us and we've never really thought about it. We've never
really considered it. But you think about this. There was a
man, the man. That's what Pilate said, Behold,
the man. There was the man. The first man was of the earth,
earthly. God created him in His image and he fell. and was depraved
and degenerate, and all of his people were just like him, born
of flesh. But the second man was the Lord
from heaven, and he was born of a woman, just like I'm born. And he came into this world and
walked on this earth. That was God in human flesh.
Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, numbered with me. He was
my representative. He was not ashamed to call me
brother. He was one with me, He was tested
in every part as I am, yet without sin, tried by God, tried by men,
tried by Satan, tried inwardly, outwardly, in every way, lived
perfectly, died on a cross, was buried, and that man came out
of that tomb, and that man actually entered Heaven itself, the very
holiest of all. Yea, not only the outskirts of
heaven, but right into the inner sanctum, right into the Holy
of Holies, right into the throne room. And that man, who was my
representative and my Redeemer, sat down at the right hand of
God. And that's where He is. You think about that. Think about
that. And I'm in Him. And He came down
here to get me. And you, He came down here as
our representative. You see that? That ought to excite
us. We ought to be able to preach that with such joy and enthusiasm
and zeal and emotion and compassion that we ought to convince somebody
whether they believe it or not. At least convince them we believe
it. I'm not convinced that all preachers
believe what they preach. They don't persuade me that they
believe it. But I'll tell you, this is something, the man. So
let's go back to the text now. And this, the Word, in the beginning.
God. In the beginning, nothing but
God. That's what God said, nothing but God. And all of this came
from God and then God Himself came into all this. All of this
came from God. All of this was permitted by
God. All of this sin and erosion and depravity and corruption
and greed, this was all permitted by God and then God Himself came
into all this. and subjected himself to it and
lived perfectly and went back to glory and sat down in power. Well, watch this now. And that
word was made f-l-e-s-h, flesh. He was a man and he tabernacled
among us. You say, what does that mean?
All right, here's what it's talking about. And this tabernacle right here
in the wilderness was where God met man. That's where all the
services, the worship went on, right there in that tabernacle.
There was that tabernacle. That's where the incense was
burned, which is the prayers of Christ. There's where the
candlestick burned all the time. There's where the showbread.
That tabernacle in the wilderness was the place that God Almighty
designated and ordained and appointed where He would meet with sinners
and where sinners would meet with Him. That's where that tabernacle
was for. where God would meet with sinners and sinners would
meet with God. And the basis on which God met with them was
sacrifice, was substitution, was sin offering, was blood.
That was the basis on which He met. But that's where He met.
The greatest glory of Israel was the tabernacle. Other nations
didn't have a tabernacle. Other nations didn't have a priesthood.
Other nations didn't have a sacrifice. Israel had a tabernacle. And
the greatest glory of Israel was that tabernacle. And the
greatest glory of the tabernacle was the Holy of Holies. And the
greatest glory of the Holy of Holies was the mercy seat. And
the greatest glory of the mercy seat was the Shekinah glory of
God. It was right over it. God was
there. I tell you, it was an awesome
place. It was so awesome that when old King Uzziah even got
to the edge of it, God made a leper out of him. It was so awesome
that another fellow that drug him out dead by the heels, didn't
he? I forget his name. But it was so awesome that no
one, no person, no individual was allowed inside that Holy
of Holies except the high priest once a year, and that only with
the blood atonement. He could go with the blood atonement.
He could go under that veil burning the incense, a type of Christ
intercession, with the blood in his hand. and put that blood
on that mercy seat where the cherubims were over it, and the
Shekinah glory of God. The glory of God. Now that's
the tabernacle. And this is what it's saying
here in verse 14, and the Word, God. God was made flesh, a man. Came from a woman. Was flesh,
just like this flesh, a man. And he, tabernacle, right here
among us, the great Shekinah glory of God that was only viewed
by the high priest once a year, that with a proper sin offering
and proper blood sacrifice, proper atonement. That Shekinah glory
actually walked on this earth and John said, look at the next
line, and we beheld that glory. And we beheld that glory. You
know why I sat there and said, here's the best news a man ever
heard, and we talk about it like it's a dry, dead, cold offering. Here's the greatest love story
known to men. And I'll tell you, we just approach
it with the most dead spirit, and we're going to argue it.
We're going to argue it. We're going to debate it. We're
so pitiful. And the Word was made flesh.
and tabernacle. We don't have a tabernacle out
there with a bunch of badger skin and ram skin and goat skin,
and we don't have a tabernacle with wood, and we have the very
glory of God Himself in human flesh walking among us. Now then,
you want to meet God, you meet Him in Christ. That's where you
meet Him. If you ever expect God to meet
you, to have any mercy upon you and deal with you, you won't
meet Him at Sinai, you won't meet Almighty God at the Jordan,
you won't meet Almighty God in the ceremonies, you meet God
in Christ. That's where God reveals Himself.
And He dwelt among us, He dwelt among us, and it says, we, we,
actually we, you know who that is? That's you and me, what favored
people, what blessed people. Our Lord said to the disciples
one day, He said, He said, whom do they say I am? Those folks
out there, whom do they say I am? Well, the disciples said, they're
saying, you're somebody special. They say, you're one of the prophets,
or you're Elijah, or John the Baptist. And he said, whom do
you say that I am? And Peter said, thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. And he said, Peter, blessed
are you, blessed are you. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you. My Father which is in heaven, blessed are your
eyes, they see, blessed are your ears. I haven't just read about
it, I haven't just heard somebody else talk about it, but I believe,
like John says here, I have beheld. I have beheld, not with these
eyes, but with eyes of faith. The Word was made flesh and tabernacle
among us, and our favored people, we blessed people, have actually
beheld with eyes of faith His glory." His glory. Now, you can
see the glory of His power in the heavens. The heavens declare
the glory of God. You can see the power of God's
wisdom in the things that are made. You can see the power of
God's majesty in the way things are held together. But I'm telling
you, the only place you can see the glory of his grace and mercy
is in Christ. I've beheld his chief glory.
His chief glory. Now, I've given this to you before,
but Moses, one day, there was a tent called the Tent of Meeting
where Moses met with God when he was leading the people of
Israel out of Egypt and across the wilderness to the Promised
Land. There was a special tent. where Moses met God. And when
Moses would get up from wherever he was in his tent and start
walking toward that tent, all the people would stand in the
tent door. Remember reading that? And watch him go. Moses was going
to meet with God. Moses was going to talk with
God. And they'd all stand there because Moses... See, God spake
to our fathers with the prophets. He spake to our fathers with
the prophets. He speaks to you by His Son. By His Son Himself,
He spoke to our fight, and these men stood and watched Him go,
Bring us back good tidings, Moses! Bring us back a message! Bring us something! But they
just stood there and watched Him go in silence. That's what
they were thinking. And one day old Moses walked
out there to that tent, and he was talking with God. The Scripture
says, face to face, as a man talks to his friend. And he said,
Lord, if I've found mercy in Your sight, If I've found mercy
in your sight, show me your way. Show me your way. And the Lord
said, I'll go with you. I'll be with you. Moses said,
Lord, not only that, but he said, if you go not with us, don't
let us go. Well, I said I'd be with you,
Moses. I'll go with you. I'll go before you. Now, Lord,
show me your glory. Show me your glory. Now, brethren,
you think what Moses had seen. He'd seen the bush that wasn't
consumed that burned. He'd seen the river turn to blood.
He'd seen the plague of lice and hail and flies and frogs
and all these other things. He'd seen the death of the firstborn.
He'd seen the river, the Red Sea parted. He'd seen the rock
give forth water. He'd seen the bread fall from
heaven. He'd seen all these marvelous, mighty miracles. But here he
is saying, Lord, show me your glory. And the Lord said, all
right, Moses. He said, I'll cause my goodness
to pass before you. I'll be merciful to whom I will
be merciful. And I'm saying this, the Word
was made flesh. God became a man. And we, we,
not with these eyes, but with eyes of faith, we, by the grace
of God, through the power of His Spirit, through His Word,
by regenerating work of His Spirit, we, just normal folks like everybody
else. We, we, the hell, actually saw
His glory. That's the glory of God. And
I know people make a lot out of healing, they make a lot out
of other things, but I'm telling you this, if you can see, if
you can see the glorious incarnation and birth of the Son of God,
in human form, if you can see that and somehow comprehend it,
that God became a man. If you can see to some extent
and comprehend his obedience as he walked this earth in human
flesh and was tried at every point and was perfectly obedient
to the law of God. Man not only had to have an atonement
and a sacrifice, he had to have a righteousness, a perfect obedience. And Jesus Christ, if you can
somehow comprehend that God in human flesh, thirsted, wearied,
hungered, knew all of these trials and temptations and perfectly
fulfilled them, if you can comprehend to some extent that God in human
flesh was led outside the walls of Jerusalem to Golgotha's hill
and nailed to a cross, nailed to a cross, and was raised up
between heaven and earth and there died as our substitute
and sin offering, was taken down and wrapped in linen and put
in a grave and lay there three days as our scapegoat. And he arose as our justifier
and walked out there on a mountain one day and spoke to his disciples,
went back to God, and sat down at the right hand of God. If
you can see something and understand something in your heart about
his birth, obedience, compassion, death, resurrection, ascension,
and intercession, you've seen his glory. His glory. God's glory. That's God's glory. That's God's glory. His substitutionary
work. He is redeeming work for sinners.
And this glory, look at the next, and the Word, watch it. God was
made flesh, F-L-E-S-H, man, flesh. And He's a man now at the right
hand of God. And He tabernacled among us. That old tabernacle
was a type of Christ. That old tabernacle was a picture
of Christ. That mercy seat, that Shekinah
glory was a picture of Christ. God meeting men at that tabernacle
and men meeting God there with a suitable sacrifice was all
just a picture and a type of Him who was to come and dwelt
among us and walked among us. And God said, there He is! There
He is! That's My beloved Son! Hear Him! This is My beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased! John said, that's the Lamb of
God! Follow Him! Behold Him! Look
on Him! Love Him! Trust Him! There He
is! There He is! There He is, and He says this,
listen, and we beheld His glory. Not just the glory of Jesus of
Nazareth. Not just the glory of the Christian
church. But it's the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father. It's the very express image of
the Father. You're seeing the Father's purpose,
will, glory, intention, Blessings and everything when you seek
Christ. You're seeing God's glory in one person, in one place,
in Christ. That's exactly it. One old writer
said this, All hail, Emmanuel, all divine, in thee all the Father's
glory shines. Thou brightest, sweetest, fairest
one that ours has seen or angels known. Oh, may I, may I come
to that place where He will unveil His lovely face, where all His
beauties the saints behold, and from then on sing His praises
to hearts of gold. That's where it is. Have you
seen it? Have you beheld it? Well, I beheld His doctrine.
You haven't seen Him. Well, I beheld His law. Well, I beheld his creed, and
I beheld his preacher, and went down and shook his hand. I beheld
his disciple, and said, No, sir. John said, Oh, if I could get
this across. And that word, in the beginning,
was the Word. That word, that very expression
of God, exact image of God was made flesh. And tabernacle right
here among us. And we beheld His glory. And in Him we saw the glory of
the Father. That's it. One more thing. Watch this. Full. I like that
word full. If you are full, And look down
at verse 16, "...and of his fulness have we received." Now watch
this, it won't do something with full, but now watch this, "...we
beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father." Full! Full! Full! Full of what? Full of eternal
deity. "...in him dwelleth all the fulness
of God." This man, Jesus Christ. "...in him dwelleth all the fulness
of God." What else? The fullness of atoning efficacy
in His blood. All the atonement, all the cleansing,
all the redemption you need is in His blood, for the blood of
Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. Fullness of atonement. What else? Fullness of justification. Therefore being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. Fullness of righteousness. He
who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made
to righteousness. Fullness of righteousness in
Him. What else? Fullness of life, because I live,
you live. Fullness of sanctification. It
says, in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and we're complete, complete in Him. Fullness of perseverance. He's able to keep you from falling.
Fullness of victory. Thanks be unto God who giveth
us a victory in Jesus Christ. The fullness of all unspeakable
blessings. Look at it again. That Word was
made to be a man and tabernacle among us and we saw His glory. The glory as of the only begotten
of the Father. Full! Full! of grace and truth, verse
16, and of that fullness have all we receive grace for good. I got it all in Christ. You see
that? That old tabernacle was full
of law and tithes. Christ is full of grace and truth.
Christ is full of grace and truth. The songwriter said, plenteous
grace, plenteous grace with Him is found. Grace to pardon all
my sins. The greatest sinner can come.
And find in Him grace to pardon, grace to sanctify, grace to regenerate,
grace to justify, grace to preserve, and grace to protect. God's grace,
all of it, in Christ, full of grace. And in closing, somebody
said this, The old tabernacle held truth in tights, truth in
shadows, Christ is truth embodied. God Almighty promised, God Almighty
prophesied, God Almighty predicted, God Almighty pictured. But when
Christ came, God Almighty produced truth in Him. There He is, all
the truth of God. Every truth you need to know
is in Christ. Everything you need is in Christ. Everything
you'll ever need. Here's the truth of God's love,
here's the truth of God's grace, here's the truth of God's mercy,
here's all the truth of God. Heapful of it. And you give your
whole lifetime and eternity to the study of the person of Jesus
Christ, and you'll never exhaust the subject. And the Word. And the Word. In the beginning
was the Word. And the Word was with God, and was God, and all
things were made by Him, was not without Him, was not anything
made that was made by Him, for Him, through Him, that in all
things He might have preeminence. And He was made flesh, and He
tabernacled among us, and our eyes were opened by the Spirit
of God, and we beheld. His glory, His redemptive glory,
His substitutionary glory. And this is the glory of the
Father. And He's full, He's full of grace
and truth. I recommend them to you. May
God give you the sight that you'll never get over. And I'll tell
you this, once you see Him, everything else just fades into obscurity.
just fades away.