Now. Well, it's good to see you about
this morning. Remember those who requested prayer. Remember Crow in your
prayers. He's, he sounded like he might have had that stuff
called RSV is what it sounds like. And he's been pretty sick
all week and still got a serious cough. So remember him in your
prayers. Seek the Lord's help. Happy birthday this week when
I wasn't here. But Jim Poe, he was older than I thought he was.
And Clora Long and Judy Woonloody, they're not here, but happy birthday
to them anyway. So that's good. Had a good meeting up there in
Western Salem. Interesting, the fellow who's pastor there told
me he preached at Sequoia back in 1975 or 76 when Herman Moore
was here. And he said, I remember a couple
of fellas up there. I said, who was that? He said,
it was a deacon named Robert Husky, some guy named Crowbar. Everybody knows Crow. So he's
a memorable character. And I thought that was interesting.
But I had a good meeting. I was able to preach four days,
pretty well attended, and seemed to appreciate it. the gospel
of Jesus Christ, so we're thankful for that. And I'm invited back,
so evidently they don't hate me. So they don't hate me anyway,
that's good. I continue to remember Arlene
that lost Fred and understand Tyler's having some difficulty
with lost Fred. Fred and him were extremely close.
They were like peas in a pod. and he's struggling with this
so remember tyler in your prayers also to seek the lord's help
bring him out of this slump because uh... that type of thing that
type of loss can can uh... drive you down way down so remember
him in your prayers okay let's begin our worship service with
hymn number forty five these servants of god your master proclaim
? Ye servants of God, your master
proclaim ? ? And publish abroad his wonderful name ? ? The name
of victorious, of Jesus exalted ? ? Now He's glorious, He rules over
all ? ? God ruleth on high, Almighty to save ? ? And still He is nigh,
His presence we have ? ? The great congregation Salvation to God who sits on
the throne. Let all cry aloud and honor the
Son. ? The praises of Jesus the angels
proclaim ? ? Fall down on their faces and worship the lamb ?
? Then let us adore and give him his right hand ? ? Wisdom and might ? All honor
and blessing ? With angels above ? And thanks never ceasing ?
And infinite love After scripture reading and prayer, we'll sing
hymn number 256, It Is Well With My Soul. If you have your Bible,
sir, and read the gospel according to John chapter one, John chapter
one. We are going to preach this morning
from verse sixteen, but let's read the first sixteen verses. Actually, let's read the first
seventeen verses. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not
anything made that was made. in him was life, and the life
was the light of men. The light shineth in darkness,
and the darkness comprehendeth it not. There was a man sent
from God, his name was John. The same came for a witness,
to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might
believe. He was not that light, but was
sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light,
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was
in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew
Him not. He came to His own, and His own
received Him not. But as many as received Him gave
He the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on His name, which were born, not of blood, not of the will
of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. And the world
was made flesh and dwelt among us, We beheld his glory, the
glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This is he
whom I spake. He cometh after me, and is preferred
before me, for he was before me. And of his fullness have
all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given
by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Let us
pray. Our Father in heaven, blessed
Lord, we thank you for the Word. We thank you that the Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us. We're thankful for you've given
us faith to behold His glory as the only begotten of the Father,
knowing He is full of grace and truth, knowing He is the source
and fountain of grace, We are thankful that you have bestowed
upon us that grace and mercy and given us that faith to believe.
We know, Father, had you not dealt with us in such a way,
had you not done it all, we would have remained in our rebellious,
sinful state without any hope, any help, or even any knowledge
of what great things had been done for your people. We're thankful
that you have told us We pray for those of our company who
are going through trials. We know that in this world, the
lot of the child of God is tribulation and trial. They are by appointment. We know that. We know also that
they're painful to the flesh. Our spirits are often subdued
when it happens. Father, help us to look to Christ
in all things. We pray especially for Arlene
at the loss of Fred as you continue to minister to her and to the
family. We pray for Tyler as he's struggling
through this. Pray for Sylvester as he's recovering
from this chest cold. Ask the Lord to be with him.
And for the others who requested prayer, Lord, we ask your help.
We know that our desire is that they get better and return to
us with a full measure of health. But we know that your will is
the one that will be done. And we must wait to see what
that is. And then when it happens, we
can know that it's your will. Help us now this hour to worship
you in spirit and in truth. Give us grace to believe, hearts
to receive the gospel. We pray in Christ's name, amen.
Hymn number 256. When peace like a When sorrows like sea billows
roll Whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say It is well,
it is well with my soul It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. Though Satan should buffet, blest assurance control that
Christ hath my helpless estate, and at the
jade is on blood for my soul. It is well with my soul. I say. Not in parts, but the whole. He's nailed to the cross, and
I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
O my soul. It is well with my soul. ? The trump shall resound ? And
the Lord shall be said ? Even so, it is well with my soul ?
It is well with my soul I'm gonna ask Steve and Stan
to receive the offering this morning, please. Let's pray. Father, again, we
approach in the name of Jesus Christ, our King and our Lord,
our dearest friend, the one that sticks closer than a brother,
but he is our elder brother. We're thankful, Father, that
he's our Savior, for what he has put his hand to, none can
turn back. And it's sure for accomplishment. We thank you,
Father. Help us to render unto thee that
which you have given us with joy and thanksgiving. Pray in
Christ's name. Amen. and and and and I invite your attention back
to John chapter 1 verse 16, it says, Of Jesus Christ and of
His fullness have we all received, and grace for grace. There is a beauty and a poetry
in the Gospel of John that is not found in the other Gospels.
Now this in no way diminishes the value of the truth that these
others speak. They are the Word of God and
therefore full of truth and glory. There is a difference in the
manner in which John was given by God to express the record
of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. When John speaks of Christ,
he referred to His Deity. And Christ is challenged on that
aspect several times by the Pharisees because he being a man maketh
himself to be God. Matthew speaks of the Lord Jesus
Christ as King of the Jews. Mark speaks of Him as a servant.
Luke speaks of Him as the Son of Man. But John speaks of Him
as God, God incarnate. John's words are poetry of the eyewitness. John has seen
the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in 1 John, I have seen
Him and I have handled Him, even the Word of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. They are words of a man who has
seen God. We know in the 18th verse of
this very chapter, no man has seen God at any time, but if
you have seen Christ, you have seen God. When John said, We beheld His
glory, he was perhaps referring to the transfiguration of the
Lord Jesus Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration, where Jesus
Christ shone brighter than the sun in His power. But it could
also have been the fact that when He laid His head on the
bosom of the Lord Jesus Christ, He saw His glory and His majesty. John used this kind of language,
the words of an eyewitness, when he declared the Gospel in 1 John
1, 1 and 2. Another aspect and perhaps the
most meaningful to the believer is the subject that is addressed
in the Gospel of John that is not found in the other three
Gospels. The subject that is near and
dear to the heart of God's children is the subject of grace, the
subject of grace, the abundance of grace. The word grace is found
in Luke one time. And it s in reference to Christ
having the grace of God upon Him when He was young and in
His youth. But in the Gospel of John, the joy is expressed
in the fact that all of God s children, right here in the very first
chapter, have received grace and that in full and wondrous
abundance. Grace for grace is how he puts
it. Grace for grace. Grace upon grace. Grace for the
sake of grace. Grace that the purpose of God's
grace might be exalted. All the elect, those chosen by
God before the foundation of the world, have received grace
because they've received Jesus Christ. You've received Christ,
you've received grace. Because He's full of grace and
truth. They have received Christ, and
thus they have received the Word made flesh that dwelt among us. How have we received Christ?
We received Him by faith. That's how we received Christ.
That's what it says in verse 12. But as many as received Him
gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on His name. Now, these two things aren't
separate. They are simultaneous. They happen instantly and once
together, like turning on a light switch. You hear the click. and
the light immediately turns on, you know that there is a difference. The click had to happen first.
Life had to happen first. But you came to a difference
because immediately upon the switch is thrown, the light comes
on. And immediately upon giving of life, faith is exercised because
it comes with the light. We are vessels made of Adamic
clay. That's what it says in Romans chapter 9, molded by the
hands of the divine potter. And it says we're a pot, a dirt
pot, an earthen vessel designed for something to be poured into
it. That's what we're designed for. The value of the pot is
determined only by that what's inside the pot. The pot itself
is just a dirt pot. When God gives His elect faith,
He makes them a vessel of honor. So He pours honor into them.
and a vessel of mercy, so He pours mercy into them. They do
not produce honor, they do not produce mercy, nor do they pour
it out. It's God who does all that. They
receive it as it's poured out from Him to whom it belongs,
from Him who is the fountain of mercy and grace. The vessels
cannot glory in themselves, but only in that which is poured
into them, specifically the one who did the pouring. What hast
thou? that thou hast not received.
And as thou hast received it, why dost thou boast as if thou
had not received it? God has not chosen many wise
or noble. He's chosen the foolish things
of the world, the stupid things of the world, the nothings of
the world to confound those who are wise and brilliant and something
in this world. Our text states that we have
received of His fullness of all and of His fullness. And we all
receive fullness. That's an interesting word used
many times in the New Testament, especially in the epistles, especially
in the Colossians, when it talks about the fullness of Christ
and all fullness dwelling in Him. Well, that was a Greek word
or a greek idea a greek idea of theology actually they believe
the fullness represented the whole pantheon of deities whether
the roman or greek or whatever all the deities made up what
is called the fullness and to show people that all that fullness
is nothing. God says all fullness dwells
in Christ. The fullness of God dwells in
Christ bodily and you are complete in Him because you have received
that fullness. So I don't feel like it ain't
about feeling. It's about knowing by faith. fullness what height and depth
and breath are contained in that word what magnitude of things
glorious has been poured into these earthen vessels of his
fullness reveals our natural emptiness we didn't have anything
in us we have not received fullness of ourselves the fullness of
our delusions of mediocrity or the fullness of our worthless
self-righteousness we have received his fullness christ's fullness
Just sounds good, don't it? Has a nice ring to it. Pressed
down and running over. It pleased the Father that in
Him should all fullness dwell. And He is the fullness of the
Godhead bodily. Of His fullness we have all received. Every child of God has received
this. We know His love and are filled
with His fullness. That's what it says in Ephesians
3, 19. We are made perfect because we are filled with His fullness.
It says that in Ephesians 4, 13. So filled are we with the
fullness of Him who is the fullness of God head bodily that we lack
nothing. We lack nothing. We want for
nothing that pertains to godliness in life. We're full. His fullness. We have ALL received
it. Does that word ALL embrace the
entire human race? No, it embraces the entire SAVED
human race. The race of humans whom God has
given faith, as is spoken of here in verse 12. That spiritual
race that has received the fullness of Christ. Who are they? They
are those who have received Christ. That is what it says in verse
12. But as many as received Him.
gave he the authority to be the sons of God, which is a wonder
in itself. John never quite got over that
fact. When he wrote these words in
his gospel, later on in his epistles, he says, behold, what manner
of love is this? That we, us, poor, wretched human
beings, should be called the sons of God. Why are we the sons
of God? Because we received the Lord
Jesus Christ, and by that, God has given us authority to become
the sons of God. They are those who believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, for it finishes that, even to those
who believe on His name. What is it to believe on Jesus
Christ? It's to trust in Him alone for your salvation. Nothing
else, nothing more, nothing less. all of christ my salvation belongs
to him and my salvation is him he is our salvation there's nothing
about us that contributes to that nothing whatsoever and to
think there is is to think wrong is to think very wrong who are
they they are those who are born of god born from above that's
what that means when we say born again in scripture means born
from above they are born of god it says that in verse thirteen
which were born Now, we know that God uses these natural,
physical terms, often using physical things to teach spiritual truth.
We know that He uses birth and the new birth, and uses that
kind of language, however this wonderful thing happens when
the seed of God is planted in the hearts through the preaching
of the Gospel of the Holy Spirit, and then that person is made
new all of a sudden. He's born. But why does God use
birth to represent? regeneration or coming to life.
Why does he represent that? He uses that because we can understand
it. We can get some idea. I was watching
the other day of this microscopic thing where this spermatozoa
was trying to get into an ovum to fertilize it and thousands
were trying to get in. They were banging all around
it on that poor egg and nothing was happening but one got in
and the instant it broke that seal It was a flash of light,
a spark of electricity, life. That life is the light of men,
it says. The new birth is represented
by the fact that when light comes into a person, when light comes,
it's inception, the language of the Bible in 1 Peter is that
this word is semen. It's semen. What is it? It simply means this, if you
are born, You had nothing to do with your birth. Nothing. Now I've seen this first hand
when my son was born. He was totally passive in the
whole operation and just about got shot off the end of the table.
If the nurse hadn't been there, he'd have been on the floor.
That's the truth. But he didn't have anything to
do with it. She did. Her body was rejecting him. This
foreign subject had been carrying around for nine months and shot
him out into this cruel and cold world. He didn't have anything
to do with it, neither did you. He didn't have anything to do
with his inception. That's me and her. Had nothing to do with
it being conceived. He had nothing to do with his
growth. That was all having to do with what she ate and how
she ate and how she took care of herself during the nine months.
Nothing to do with that. They even shared blood. His blood
became part of her blood and her blood became his. Part of
his blood. But he had nothing to do with
it. You were born. How? Well, you had nothing to
do with it. Which is what he says. You were
born not of blood. Now that's ancestry. Or bloods. So you can say Abraham's your
father, your auntie. That don't mean he is. All who
believe in Christ are Abraham's sons. but your ancestry had nothing
to do with it. There are a lot of people in
my family who believe the gospel of God's grace. There are a lot
of them who didn't. I have a heritage of Baptists
all the way, way back to where my daddy, my granddaddy on my
daddy's side actually started a Baptist church, Bex Baptist
Church, because he didn't like the way the Moravians baptized
people. So he was a Moravian and then he became a Baptist.
We got a history of Baptists. Which I wouldn't give you a dime
for, but nonetheless, that's true. But that ancestor means
nothing. It means nothing. If your mom
and dad were Christians, that don't mean you're gonna be one.
God doesn't have any grandchildren. Just doesn't have any. Which
were born not of blood, nor of the will of flesh. That kinda
kills the whole free will idea, doesn't it? I mean, it just kills
the dead. There's a hammer right there.
Free will? No. You're not born by the will
of the flesh. Your will doesn't make you alive.
Your will doesn't do anything. Nor of the will of man. Nobody
else can do it for you. No matter what plan they might
come up with, what invention they might come up with. I saw
today a person who I thought believed the gospel of grace
gave this, how do you accept Jesus? And it was a whole bunch
of things that you said, and then you prayed a little prayer,
the sinner's prayer. And I'm thinking, boy, they ain't
learned nothing yet. You don't accept Jesus to start
with. He's your superior. He's the king. He's God. He's the creator. You're gonna
accept him. The only way you can accept Him is to believe
yourself superior to Him. Acceptance belongs to the one
who is superior, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man. Well, how are you born then?
But of God. That's how you're born again.
You're born of God. You're born of God by His Spirit
and through His Word. John 3, verses 5 through 8, when
he was talking to Nicodemus, he said, You must be born again,
the Spirit bloweth where it listeth. It's like the wind. You've got
to be born again. So is everyone that's born of
the Spirit. We don't know where they come from or how it got
there. We can't come up with a plan because we can't come
up with a plan to make the wind blow. Though I've got a feeling
that these fake scientists today are trying to figure out a way
to do that. You can't figure out these things. We're like
the wind. I've seen it happen so many times.
People show up. The Lord does something for them.
They come up to me. I haven't seen any difference
in them at all. They come up to me and say, I want to confess
the Lord in baptism. He saved my soul. You mean there wasn't
no lightning bolt? Wasn't no shouting and carrying
on? Everybody weeping and crying and grabbing a tissue at the
end of the pew? All of that going on? None of
that going on. What happened? Light. Birth. And it was of God, born of God,
born by His Spirit. They were born through the preaching
of the gospel. My words, their spirit, and their life, Christ
said. First Peter, I just quoted, were born not of corruptible
seed, but incorruptible seed, even the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. And this is the word of God,
which by the gospel is preached unto you. James 1.18, of his
own will, he hath begotten us, birthed us, with the word of
truth. How's that work? Wonderfully. But I can't explain it. Nobody
can. All these have received His fullness,
those who have been born again, those who have faith. Of what
fullness have they received? Look at verse 14. And the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. They have received the fullness
of this person. I can't begin to explain that.
people come up with all that kind of ideas what it should
mean if that's happened to you and they come up with all kinds
of rules and regulations and things like that that should
be a measure of your life if this has happened to you. None
of that happens in scripture. None of that language we find
in scripture. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us and we have received of his fullness. One writer said in the person
and word of Jesus One does not encounter anything that has its
origin in the world or in time. The encounter is with the reality
that lies beyond the world and time. Everything hangs upon the
fact that God in His totality and sovereign majesty is this
incarnate One who is the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the first lessons in theology
is this. Where God is, He is totally there. He is all there. He is never partially doing anything. If He is in you, He is all the
way in you. He is in for the whole shebang.
The glory of the Lord and His salvation by revelation of His
sovereign will, and He does it to whom He pleases, and it is
about His entrance. of His fullness, we have all
received. We've all received the fullness
of His grace. Grace, the songwriter said, is a charming sound. What
is grace? Everybody talks about it. Just
about every preacher preaches something about the grace of
God. even people who don't know the grace of God when they are
able to miss some terrible mishap. They say things like there but
for the grace of God go I. People talk about what is grace?
It's simply this. It's the unmerited favor of God. It's His unmerited kindness.
What does that mean? That means no matter what you
are, how good you are in society, what you do, anything about you,
If God shows you grace, it's because you did not merit it
and could not merit it. And He simply showed you favor.
He showed you favor. Did you deserve to have the kindness
of God shown to you? Some people think they do. I
deserve better than that. No, you don't. You deserve worse
than whatever's happened to you. If you ain't in hell, you're
doing pretty good. Kindness, unmerited favor. Grace
is not offered. People talk about it, you read
about it in theology books, the offer of grace. Nowhere in Scripture
is grace offered. It's not held out as an incentive
or placed at your disposal as a general commodity to be accepted
or rejected. It's simply this. I knew not
God, I cared not for the things of God, I was not seeking God,
I had no interest in God, did not understand God. My whole
life was spent taking care of myself and looking to please
my own self. If anybody said, do you know
God? I'd probably say, no, I don't
know him from Adam. Don't know God. What happened
to me? In that horrible, vile, wicked
state, God in his power and kindness I'm going to show favor on Him.
Why? There ain't no reason in Him. The reason's in God, whatever
it is, and He ain't told us what it is. He loved us with an everlasting
love. How could He do that? Because
He's God, and He does as He pleases. It's being favored, and that
favor has nothing to do with or anything about you or I. It
is the sovereign disposition of God toward those who He's
chosen before the foundation of the world. powerful and effectual
and nothing you can do can attain grace you can't do something
that would make grace happen to you but here's the beautiful
thing knowing what we are there's nothing we could do that could
stop it from happening nothing we could do could keep grace
from being shown to us not if God is intended to do so grace
is unstoppable We preach sovereign grace because we know it works.
It's indestructible. Once God has given it, it never
changes. It is unchangeable in its course. If God has graced
you, he will grace you throughout eternity. You will always have
grace. The grace of God is omnipotent grace. He said, I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy, and I will be gracious unto whom
I will be gracious. Omnipotent. If God gets on your trail, He'll get you. He'll find you. Grace will always find its mark.
It will have its way. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in Christ, according as He has chosen us in Him for
the foundation of that we should be holy without blame before
him, in love having predestinated us to the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself. Why? To the praise of the glory
of his grace. That's the only reason. One may
resist and even despise the idea of grace, but no one can resist
grace itself. When grace comes, somebody's
going to be graced. If you are its object, get ready
to be highly favored, that is what it means. Grace is the leviathan,
and you are just a pismire. Of all the fullness of His grace
we have all received. This is what every child of God,
this is what you can say today. Of all the fullness, of all His
grace, of all of Christ, we have all received. That is a wonder!
We have all received the fullness of His truth. He is full of grace. and truth. He is the truth. All truth is embodied in Him.
There's no truth, true truth, outside of Him. Receiving Him
is receiving the truth and receiving the truth is receiving Him. Can
I know Christ without doctrine? No. Can I know doctrine without
Christ? No. You receive one, you receive the other. Talk about
power. There is nothing more powerful
than that which is absolute. So there can be no doubt as to
the SOURCE. John makes it plain. Christ is the SOURCE of TRUTH.
In chapter, in verse 17 he says, he said, the LAW came by Moses, or was given by Moses, but GRACE
and TRUTH came by the Lord Jesus Christ. Does that mean the LAW
ain't the TRUTH? No, it's true, but it ain't the
TRUTH. Christ is the TRUTH. Christ is the truth, He is the
only source of truth. The law, though it is true, is
not truth. The contrasts are evident. The law was given, but
grace came. The law was given, but it was
no giver. The law does not give you anything. It was an exactor. It was a blamer. The law declares
of man what he actually is before God. Christ is the truth. He shows man what he is and who
God is and it brings to sinners what they need. The law can't
help you. The Bible says you are condemned
already if you don't believe. John 3. He that believeth not
is condemned already. So you are already condemned.
Born that way. So what does that mean? Go down
to the prison, go down to death row and go down to the death
chamber. There you sit. But what can the law do for you?
Here's what the law does. It walks into you and opens up
the pages and says, this is why we're going to execute you. That's
all it can tell you. It's why you're going to die.
Because you've transgressed the law. But that ain't grace. Grace abounds to the chief of
sinners. Where sin did abound, grace did much more abound. Grace,
like I said, is only first mentioned in John as grace itself, as saving
grace. But then the rest of the Bible,
through the New Testament, hundreds and hundreds of times, we find
the word grace. We find the word grace. The law
was given with all its demands. Truth and grace came with its
supply. You're dying, you're dead. Grace says, you're alive
and free. You're alive and free. The law
stopped when it was written on stone. Grace did not stop until
it entered and consumed the very heart of its target and the mind
of the vessels that were formed to receive it. In the law, we
cannot see God. We are only made aware of His
holiness and our patent inability to do anything to please God.
In truth and grace the Father is declared by the Son and is
seen by faith and we beheld His glory. We've seen God because
we've seen Christ by faith. Of the fullness of His person,
His glory, His grace and His truth, we've got it. You're not
looking for anything if you're a child of God. You're not looking
for something else down the pike. You got it all. You got it all. Of His fullness have we all received. What a thing. It's the only thing
to buck us up in trials. Christ in us. Not knowledge that
He has been merciful to us. Of His glory and all sufficiency
of grace. John says, and grace for grace.
And grace for grace. of as full as ever received.
Abundant and full is this grace. Grace for every need and every
circumstance. Grace for every trial. Grace
for every joy. We receive grace upon grace.
Grace for the sake of honoring grace. Never despair of the grace
of God. I know when troubles come, we
do despair. We can't help it. We are what
we are. We are weak and frail creatures. We will despair. We
will physically and often mentally be broken. Trials are hard, but
His grace is sufficient. His grace will never leave you.
His grace will never depart. His grace will never be less
than what has always been, which is the fullness of Jesus Christ.
There is no blessing outside Him and consequently no lack
for the soul that has received Him. If you know Christ today,
this is your verse, this can be your motto of life, of His
fullness. We have ALL received and grace
for grace. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name, Amen.