the the the do so I invite your attention back
to John chapter 1. The entrance of God Almighty
into this world of woe in human flesh was manifestly prophesied
throughout the Old Testament. In Genesis 3, our Lord God said
to the serpent who had deceived Eve, that the seed of woman would
come and bruise his head and he would bruise his heel. In Isaiah chapter 7 we have the
promise of a virgin that would conceive and bring forth a son
and would call his name Emmanuel which is interpreted God with
us. In Isaiah 14 we have the declaration of the person and
work of the Lord Jesus Christ for unto us A child is born,
that's his humanity. And unto us a son is given, that's
his eternity. And the government should be
upon his shoulders. His name should be Wonderful Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Micah chapter five, it even talks about the town which he was born
in. It says, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, the smallest little town. Out
of thee shall come one whose days are of old, the ancient
of days who is a child of days. Malachi 3.1 talks about the angel
of the covenant, Jesus Christ, the messenger of the covenant
who shall enter into his temple suddenly. The Old Testament spoke
of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This time of year has
been designated by most of what is called Christianity as a time
to celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. I enjoy this
time of year. I like it. I like giving presents. I like getting presents. I like
to drive around and see how people decorate their house, though
I don't take time to do it myself. We almost bought a Christmas
tree this year. We looked at one. But we haven't put one up
since the kids were home. But I enjoy this time. I love those old Christmas songs.
I like to sing them. I like to think about this time
of year. I like to think about looking at Remy's face when he
gets all his presents. That's gonna be a great treat
for us. And most people at this time of the year do at least
think about the Lord Jesus Christ, and I'm glad for that. Even though
most of what they think of him is so far off it ain't even funny,
at least his name is called out. In Scripture, he's presented
in the Old Testament in all his aspects of his ministry. In the
New Testament, he's declared that he has come into this world
in the Gospels, that he's coming again in the Epistles. But I believe beyond any doubt,
as far as my mind is concerned, and when I read it, it always
has the same effect on me, the most fleshed out and worshipful
report of God entering the realm of fallen humanity is before
us in these two verses of Scripture. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. We beheld His glory, we saw Him. And His glory was that of the
only begotten of the uniquely born Son of God, Son of the Father,
full of grace and truth. Grace and truth. You might get your concordance
sometime and look up that word grace and truth. The word grace
and truth appears a great deal of times in the Old Testament,
but in the New Testament in the Gospels, the word grace is found
once in Luke, and three times in John, the Gospel of John. That's the only time it's found
in the Gospel, the word grace. Three times in John. If you look
at the word truth in the New Testament, you'll find it used
in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but only a couple of times, and generally
when a person is declaring what he's about to say is the truth. but about 40 times you'll find
it in the Gospel According to John. Grace and truth are manifestly
emphasized in this particular book, and that's sweet for every
sinner, for grace is a charming sound to a sinner. It's a sweet
note and cordial from heaven to a ruined and wretched sinner
that God has shown grace, and that grace is found in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The incarnation of our Lord,
as described by John, is a masterpiece of literature. It is written
on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but it differs from the
account of our Lord's entrance into the world given by the other
apostles. Mark doesn't talk about his birth. He talks about him
as he begins his ministry, and he refers to him as the servant
of God, which is one of the four faces of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew and Luke talk of him
Matthew wrote of Christ as the king being born spoke of his
royal heritage and his royal lineage Worthy of worship as
a king as a king is to be adored and obeyed Matthew declared him
to come on a mission of mercy to save his people from their
sins. That's why they call his name Jesus For God to undertake such a thing, such
a mission, surely indicates that the power to perform such a task
infinitely exceeds anything that we poor creatures could ever
even dream of, much less accomplish. For him to do this also declares
somehow, to some degree, the extent and depth of our ruin
as human beings in Adam. So ruined are we that only God
can fix us. We can't fix ourselves. We can't
pull ourselves up from sin by our bootstraps and fix ourselves
and reform ourselves to be on a place where we can be accepted
by God. Only one who is both God and
man can fix us and succeed in such a grand endeavor as to save
a man's soul. Only God can satisfy God, and
only man can die. John, in this glorious treatise,
comes as close to making the mystery of godliness understandable
as is humanly possible, yet they, when considered, stupefy the
mind. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the word was
made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory as the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Nothing
sounds like that. In all of human literature, and
I've read a lot of it, and I love the classics, and I love philosophy,
and I've read a lot of books over the years. Nothing compares
to this. It's just a wonder and an amazing,
an amazing thing. Verses 1 and 14 cannot be explained. They can only be believed, and
that by faith that grasps the truth that we in no way can save
ourselves. If we are to be saved, this is
the only possible way of it being accomplished. God, God must become
flesh. Boy, if we come with such an
idea, it'd be blasphemy, wouldn't it? God, God Almighty, the creator,
sustainer, and conservator of all things, the holy, thrice
holy God, the glorious God, who daily hears the six-winged beasts
fly to and fro singing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, that God, The sovereign God who
rules and reigns and controls all things by his thoughts and
by his mind. Who holds the steps of all human
beings. Recently there's been a controversy
and a fight over what some guy on Duck Dynasty said on TV about
homosexuals and people who raised their hand. Deb and I were talking
and I said if somebody asked me this is what I would say.
First of all, I'd probably say, next question, because I know
where they're coming from, I know where the interview's coming
from, but I'd say this. Homosexuals and heterosexuals
and transsexuals and bisexuals and East Coast and West Coast
and all those kind of serve God. They do. They serve their purpose,
all of them, you and I and everybody we don't agree with. and they
will all glorify God in His wrath or in His justice,
but they serve. They don't think they're serving.
They don't want necessarily to serve, but that don't make any
difference. We are His servants. Creatures
it is not in man to direct his steps scripture say God's in
charge of this thing That's how it's going to end up That's how
it's going to wind up Don't get in these bickering fights about
political issues and try to make them biblical issues because
they're not They're not simply this God's going to take care
of it because he's God and I've had friends, had a very one recently,
who was a homosexual, an open homosexual. He got sick and his
family didn't want to help him much, so I'd take him to the
grocery store and help him out when I could. And I've always
loved him as a friend, known him since he was a boy. And he
asked me one time, what does the Bible say about it? And so
I told him what the Bible said about it. He didn't get mad at
me, because he asked the question and I told him what the Bible
said. And he says, well, I don't have a choice no matter. And
I just said this, I hope in your case it's a choice, because when
you make a choice, you can repent of it. Because if it's not a
choice, you'll go and just see. Because God makes vessels under
wrath and vessels under honor out of the same lump of clay.
Why? To glorify his name. His name. This is the thing. How can anybody
be saved? How can anybody be saved? God
Almighty who rules and reigns and controls all things must,
must be made flesh. What a wonder. What a thought. Our minds can't comprehend it.
This is worship stuff. This is where we stop, just bow
down and say, my soul. John describes here a unique
being, a unique being, one of a kind, like no other that ever
walked the earth or tread the streets of glory. This being,
this man, this seed of woman, this is Immanuel, God with us.
This person is two distinct natures in one body. He is God, all of
God, so much God as if he were not man. For scripture says,
in him, in his body dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead. In his body, Jesus Christ was
all that God is as he walked around upon this earth in a body,
in a human frame, weak and frail like ours. And he is also man,
fully human. so very human as if he were not
God at all and exemplified by the fact that things are said
of him like he learned through the things he suffered. He grew in wisdom and understanding. He satisfied not himself. He
pleased not himself. That's the language of humanity.
He is not deity humanized. he is not human humanity deified
not for a second while he walked this earth did his deity intrude
on his humanity nor did his humanity blend over into his deity. One
unique creature and here's the way God describes it in the beginning
was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was God
the same as in the beginning with God and the Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory as the only
begotten of the Father full of grace and truth in our text John
describes this being in two distinct ways in verse 1 John describes
our Lord as the Word the divine Logos the Word In verse 14 he
describes our Lord as the Word made flesh and in this description
is the key to our salvation, the person of our salvation and
the God of our salvation. John's first description is Christ
as deity. As deity. Was Christ God? Of
course he was. In the beginning was the Word.
So in order for folks not to be mistaken about this, he takes
us all the way back to the language of Genesis 1 and chapter 1. He
does it in a very blessed and instructive way. In six words,
he declares Christ as the eternal God. He was in the beginning. He says that over in Proverbs
chapter eight. Proverbs chapter eight. Look at verse 22. God says to his son that I may
cause those that love me to inherit substance and I will fill their
treasures. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way
before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting,
from the beginning, wherever the earth was. When there were
no depths, I was brought forth. When there was no fountains abounding
with water, 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 part of the dust
of the world, when he prepared the heavens, I was there. When
he set a compass upon the face of the earth, and that's a circle,
that's what that word means, when God made the earth a circle. When he established the clouds
above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when he
gave to the seas his decree that the water should not pass his
commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth,
then I was by him. as one brought up with Him, and
I was daily His delight rejoicing in salvation, rejoicing always
before Him. Christ said, I was there. In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. He's the same God of Genesis
1-1, because John starts out like Genesis starts out, in the
beginning God. He who was the beginning is the
word. John uses this name to describe the second person of
the Trinity. He says there are three that bear witness in heaven
in 1 John 5, 7. There are three that bear witness in heaven,
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. The Word is essential
God in John 1, 1. The depth of the meaning of that
title cannot be plumbed. We use the word God as a derivative
of the English word good, good. One letter taken out and because
God is good, that's how the English came to call him God. He's called
by many names throughout other cultures, but he's God. But he's
God. He was in the Word. He was the
Word in the beginning, before all time, before all worlds,
before all things. And as the Word, he is the Word
of life, having the words of eternal life. That's how he's
described in the scriptures. He's the Word, the divine communique,
the heavenly edict, the revelation from the Father by the Spirit. He is the written Word and verbal
declaration of the Father. He said, I am here to declare
the Father in John 118. He is what God has to say to
men. He is all that God has to say to men. He is the doctrine
of God that distills as the Jew upon the tender herb, and God
is not and cannot be known except as Christ Jesus is known. This
is eternal life, that they know the Father, know the one true
God, even Jesus Christ, whom he is said, this is what Christ
prayed in John 17. He is the only understanding
of the written word. Men can study this book all their
life and they can learn a great deal about it. I listen to men
talk about it. There's a show on History Channel
or A&E and one of them channels where they debate these things
about God and all the mysteries of the Bible. People study this
book. It's an interesting book. It'll be around when we're all
gone. I thought when these controversies come up between men and they
fight about stuff, I'm thinking, well, you know, they're gonna
be gone. And the people that ask the questions
are going to be gone. And the people that listen, they're
going to be gone. In 100 years, everybody's going
to be gone. But you don't want to still be around. 3,500 years. It's changed people's
lives. This word. Men and women still
come and gather to hear some nobody stand and open this book
and tell them about it. Sunday after Sunday. They have
for hundreds and hundreds and thousands and thousands of years
and they'll continue to do it. When all is said and done, we
still have this. What is it? It's the Word. Another good study for you would
be to take the word, Word, written and living and look it up in
Scripture and compare how God speaks of both of them in the
same, using the same adjectives and adverbs. The Word of God. that blessed word of God. And
nobody understands it without Christ. Remember the disciples
on the road to Emmaus thought they knew what he was talking
about. They thought they understood
what Christ had been talking about, but he told them, he says,
I have some things to tell you, you're not ready to hear. You're not gonna get
this yet. And so they thought he was gonna
set up an earthly kingdom. They thought he was gonna save Israel.
They thought he was gonna do this and do that. Thought he was gonna
get him out in front of the rule of Rome. They had all kinds of
hopes. And they were walking home, dismayed, back to Emmaus
after our Lord had rose from the dead. He'd come alongside
them and fixed, beheld their eyes where they could not see
who He was. They began to talk to Him. What's your boys troubled
about? Well, our Master, you know, He
said He's gonna do some things He didn't do them. And they said
He rose from the dead. Some disciples said He rose from
the dead. We just thought He was gonna like set up a kingdom
and, you know, save us, deliver us from Rome. The Lord said,
O fools, slow of heart to believe the Scriptures. Ought not Christ
to have suffered these things and entered into His glory? And
beginning at Moses and the Psalms, He began to teach them the Scripture
concerning Himself. And then in verse 44 of Luke
24, it says, and he said unto them, these are the words which
I have spake unto you while I was yet with you that all things
must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and
in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. And the next phrase
says this, then opened he their understanding that they might
understand the scriptures. You don't understand the Moses
and Psalms and the prophets and all those unless you know Christ. But when
you know him, man, this book jumps out. It gets alive and
vital and vital. He is the owner or understanding
of the written word. And as the word, particularly
in this context, Christ is the beginning of the full and final
revelation of the purpose of God and the salvation of the
elect. He is the information contained in the Old Testament.
And with his manifestation, the full disclosure of the revelation
of the mystery of Godliness declared in the Old Testament, Typhon
prophets come to fore. We understand them now. Those
apostles, they took that old book, that Old Testament. And
Debbie and I were talking about this the other day. We were raised
in Southern Baptist Church, and they talked about the Old Testament
stuff. It's already passed. It's for the Jews. It's not anything
for us. Oh, my. Peter, James, and John,
they took Genesis 1, and they took Exodus of Leviticus, and
they've been talking about those lambs slaying who they pointed
to. They talk about those ceremonies. They talk about those laws. Talk
about how God delivered Israel from Egypt by the blood of the
lamb. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. They talked about the angel of the covenant, the messenger
of the covenant. They talked about the one who
appeared at the temple in Isaiah. They talked about this one and
that one. Using that Old Testament, they pictured the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the Word. The Word. In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld His glories. He only begotten
the Father, full of grace and truth. He's the seed of woman,
as prophesied in Genesis 3.15. Why? Because no foulness from
Adam is transferred to him. He is born uniquely as the only
man who was born without sin, because he didn't come from man,
he came from God through a woman. The God of all glory, the majestic
sweetness of eternity, the same who was God in the beginning
with God was made flesh and in the disclosure of sure and full
salvation was brought to fruition. The word was made flesh. Oh,
thankful are we, fleshly creatures, that God became like us. Someone we can talk to. and communicate
with, who understands our situation. He was God's seed of men, because
he dwelt among them. If you've seen me, you've seen
the Father, he said. He breathed the same air we breathe,
and ate the same food, and walked the same earth, and felt what
we feel. Was tested with every test that we had. As a baby had
that, his diapers changed. God did that for us. as his mother took him to her
bosom to nurse him. It was he who gave her power
to do it. The infant of days is the ancient
of day. We beheld his glory. The Word
made flesh, what can be made of this? What possible combination
of language, of understanding, of word masonry, rhyme and reason,
grammar and syntax, what dictionary, what thesaurus, what theological
tome, what expertise of oratory can be invented to define this
wonder? The Word was made flesh. I don't understand that, don't
begin to, but I'm so glad it's true. the extent and depth of
this condescension of cannot be grasped by the human mind.
We can only go so far in our understanding. We cannot get
out past the realm of where we live and where we exist or the
capabilities of our intellect. Here the believer bows and utter
all in adoration. We just say, oh my, oh my, dear
Lord God. We have no concept even of our
own depravity. We don't know how deep that is.
What we do know of it causes us to cringe and hide in the
shadows of shame. If we can enter into the depths
of weakness, plunge down deep into the blackness of our soul
and desperate illness of our diseased heart. If we can experience
the horrendous aptitude and bent of our flesh, even if we found
the very bottom of it, our experience would not begin to describe the
depths of humiliation, that occurred when the word was made flesh. He was made flesh. The same word in the original
language used by Paul in Romans when he says no flesh shall be
justified in his sight. He uses it again in Romans chapter
eight saying that Christ was made in the likeness of sinful
flesh and for sin. Flesh to us may mean a variety
of things and carry no special aspect of personal condescension. I can imagine how vile I am,
but it's really not any condescension for me because I haven't got
to the bottom of it yet. And I may create the most heinous
act that's ever been created by a human being, but I haven't
reached the depth of my depravity, so I don't understand the concept
of condescension when it comes to sin. When it comes to flesh,
I don't understand what God did. Describe man with any vocabulary
of wretchedness. Call him what you will. Say about
him what you will. Use any vile adjective or noun
or adverb. No word can demean man or want
for surprise or lack of truth concerning his utter legitimacy.
You can't make me as bad as I am with words. No matter what you
call me. So call me what you want. When
people cuss me or call me this and that, it doesn't bother me
whatever. It doesn't bother me. Why? Because they don't know.
They've not scratched the surface. I haven't scratched the surface.
So you call me what you want to. It'll never be a sense of condescension
to me, because I haven't even begun to plumb the depths of
what vileness I am by nature. There is no one lower than me. There's no one lower than you. The old saying was, we're lower
than a snake's belly in a wagon rut. Low. But it's not condescension. I was looking a little bit on
TV before I came over this morning. There was this fellow that bought
wines He was rich. He paid four and
a half million dollars for some wine. Four and a half million
dollars. And you know what? They were
fake. This oriental guy and this guy
from Germany had these people blow glass, like the old glass
you stole. And he had forged the labels. He bought four bottles for over
a million dollars with Thomas Jefferson's wine collection.
All of them were fake. He got brought down. David and
I said, why would a fella pay that much for a glass of wine,
or for a bottle of wine? He does that so he can tell somebody,
I paid this much for a bottle of wine. And now he says, I bring
people down to my wine cellar and show them how I was suckered
in and was defrauded and show them all the fine Bordeaux's
and de Rothschild's and they were all fake. I paid millions
for them. Brought down. He ain't come down
nowhere. He ain't got The only time we begin to start
to commence to see something of our utter degeneracy is when
we see the Word made flesh. To describe the Word in such
a manner is to define condescension, humiliation, degradation. The Word flesh means that our
blessed Lord was made our nature. born or both of soul and body,
completely man, completely flesh. To compare, to paraphrase Augustine,
Augustine said he did not change what he was, but rather took
on what he was not. In doing so, he became the perfect
substitute for sinners. As flesh, he could suffer and
die. Somebody's got to die for my sin, me or somebody. As God,
he could meet every requirement necessary to satisfy perfect
divinity. The culmination of the word made
flesh was when Christ was made to be seen on Calvary Street
2,000 years ago. I'll never begin to understand
that. I know some smart people and theologians in the last year
or so have done, got it figured out. I ain't got it figured out
yet. When all my sin was made to meet
on the Lord Jesus Christ and all his righteousness was made
to meet on me and I didn't feel either one of them. And yet God
has given me faith to believe it. What a wonder. The Word was
made flesh, for without Him being so, there would be no salvation.
His coming and dying was the salvation, the redemption, the
reconciliation, justification, and sanctification of His people.
The Word purposed it, and then came in the flesh and accomplished
it. 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. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And
we beheld his glory. The only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. Now listen this week, and like
I said, I enjoy this season. I like these pretty poinsettias.
I used to call them poinsettias, but people corrected me, so now
I say poinsettias. I like them, they're beautiful.
And they made me think of Christmas. They made me think of Christmas
presents and the smell of fir trees and things. But then I
listened this week to people talking on TV and radio, and
I listened on purpose. I heard men and women of every
faith and ilk known to man speak of the birth of Christ. Some
even tried to be scriptural and morally indignant, disclaiming
the materialism of the holiday and decrying the absence of Christ
in Christmas. Though in reality, he was never
there to start with. Others decried the attack on Christianity. Some
spoke of school children being taught Christmas carols and leaving
out the name of Christ. Old little town of Bethlehem,
I guess it was. I don't know. I heard men slam Walmart because
they said Merry Christmas. I heard of a chaplain who went
on a hunger strike because he was not allowed to pray in the
name of Jesus. Christmas story, both pro and con, was on Today
Show, and Good Morning America, and CBS, and Fox News, and MSNBC,
and CNA, and they all talked about it. I heard clerics debate
the reason for his coming. I listened to sentimentality,
and anger, and religious pap. A history channel devoted an
entire hour to it. In all of this discourse, I did
not hear two words ever spoken. How can you talk about him and
not talk about thee? How can you talk about his birth
and not talk about thee? I did not hear the words grace
and truth. Did not hear them. Not one reporter
said grace. Not one cleric said truth. This is the description of those
who beheld him, however. And the word was made flesh. and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. Nina Simone sang a song about,
I can't remember the name right now, it escapes me, but one of
the lines in it was concerning Christ, only drowning men could
see Him. Only drowning men could see Him.
The believer, the one who has been given precious faith, beholds
His glory. In fact, the glory of the Word
made flesh is the chief claim and the desire of the elect.
His glory is the only begotten of the Father. And the redeemed sinner sees
the Word made flesh is full of grace and truth, grace experienced
and truth revealed and manifested and disclosed. And we say, in
the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And
the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory as the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Merry Christmas. God bless you.