Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/cbc/sermons/18351/come-receive-believe-in-know-jesus/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Please take your Bibles and go to John's Gospel, the Gospel of John.

[0:12] If you're visiting with us and need a black Bible, there's a black Bible in the chair in front of you. Go towards the back. The New Testament is renumbered, so find page 71, or 70 I should say.

[0:26] John chapter 1, the Gospel of John chapter 1, we embark on this journey in John's Gospel for the next 60 weeks.

[0:39] John's Gospel, excuse me, John chapter 1, we're just gonna finish the prologue today, verses 14 through 18, John chapter 1, 14 through 18, again that black Bible, page 70, 71, and that black Bible.

[0:54] Let me read John 1, 14 through 18, and then we'll dive in. John 1, 14, and the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

[1:20] John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, this was He of whom I said, He who comes after me has come before me, for He existed before me.

[1:33] For of His fullness we've all received, even grace instead of grace. For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

[1:44] No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has exegeted Him.

[2:00] A do-it-yourself catalog firm had received the following letter from one of its customers. Quote, I built a birdhouse according to your stupid plans.

[2:14] And not only is it much too big, it keeps blowing out of the tree, signed unhappy. The firm replied, Dear unhappy, we're sorry about the mix-up.

[2:28] We accidentally sent you a sailboat blueprint. But if you think you are unhappy, you should read the letter from the guy who came in last in his yacht club races. End quote.

[2:41] Good communication and good explanation are vital. Else confusion arises and confusion brings chaos.

[2:54] We use words to communicate, to talk. You're hearing my words, I'm saying things. to convey ideas, thoughts, a direction plan, blah, blah, blah.

[3:07] And we can always improve on this. There's always room to improve on our communication and explanation skills. Good communication and explanation within a relationship is key.

[3:25] Because it can further a relationship or tear down. Like what do they say about marriages? Marriages can be torn apart with poor communication, can't they?

[3:39] Or good communication, explanation, talking, it can excel a marriage. I mean, it's vital within a marriage. It's vital within relationships. It's in general. God thinks communication is important.

[3:57] God is the best, most excellent communicator and explainer of the world, of himself, of Jesus.

[4:08] How does he do it? Through Jesus. Come know Jesus. As we've been talking about in John's gospel, come know Jesus.

[4:23] Today we'll see, come know Jesus, come receive Jesus, come believe in Jesus, come trust Jesus. Come know Jesus. And here's the catch. Come know Jesus because he's the ultimate God exegeter.

[4:39] And I'll explain what that word means, exegeter, in a moment. He's the ultimate, he's the greatest God exegeter. That's why you should come to Jesus.

[4:53] That's why you should come to know Jesus. Come know Jesus because he's the ultimate, the greatest, the most excellent God exegeter.

[5:10] Or another way to put it, if you want to know God in the way he should and must be known, come to Jesus because he's the ultimate God exegeter.

[5:24] If you want to know God, you must come to Jesus. If you want to know God, you must know Jesus. If you read John's first epistle, first John, John says this constantly.

[5:40] Even within the rest of John's gospel, you see that he receives me, he receives the one who sent me. Jesus says it constantly, over and over and over again. So if you reject Jesus, I don't want to know Jesus, then you're rejecting God.

[5:59] I want to know God, but I don't need to know about Jesus. No offense, but you're foolish. If you want to know God, come to Jesus, because he's the greatest God exegeter.

[6:16] Again, this journey in John's gospel, to receive Jesus is to believe in Jesus. To believe in Jesus is to know Jesus, who he is, who is the Father, and all that he has done.

[6:28] And I'm just giving you, by way of review, the direction of John's gospel, so I'm just reviewing at this point, where we're going in John's gospel overall. Remember, come, and the reason why, is because of who Jesus is.

[6:44] How? By believing in him, or trusting in him. So come, why? Because of who Jesus is. Come, how? By believing in him, trusting in him, knowing him.

[6:58] What does it mean to know him? What is it? What? Eternal life is knowing God, and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent. So knowing Christ, points not just to knowledge, but volition, your will, which shouldn't infect your affections, for Christ.

[7:23] And I brought this up last week too, because as we embark on this journey, in John's gospel, over the next 60 weeks, and really, as you come to your own reading, of God's word, we need to be asking the right question.

[7:39] The question is not, how does this relate to me? That's the first question, that Christians ask. How does the Bible relate to me? No, no, no. How does your life fit in, with who Jesus is, and what he's done?

[7:53] John will teach you, who Jesus is, and why it should matter to you. We like to come to the Bible, say okay, how does it relate to me?

[8:03] No, that's just selfish thinking. How does your life fit into, who Jesus is? And what God's doing, because it's not about you, it's about Jesus, and who he is, and why that should matter to you.

[8:24] John thought it was so important, he wrote a big gospel about it, 21 chapters, as a matter of fact. So now this, God, exegeter, thing, what does this mean?

[8:36] Go to verse 18, I'm going to start with the crescendo. Verse 18, no man has seen God at any time, the only begotten God, who's in the bosom of the Father, he has, explained him.

[8:50] From the Greek, is where you get the word, exegesis. The word exegesis, when you do a study of the Bible, study of the word of God, exegesis means, you draw the meaning out.

[9:02] You draw the meaning out, of the passage. People like to put their ideas, into the Bible. Well this is what it means, based upon what I think. That's called, eisegesis.

[9:13] You put your meaning, into the passage. No, no, no, no. You don't interpret the Bible that way. That's just, you putting your ideas, into the Bible. No. It's what does God think?

[9:25] What's God's focus? What did God mean by that? Draw the meaning out, exegete the passage. So, the word, is the one, who, explains God.

[9:40] He makes him known. He exegetes God. He exegetes the Father. He is the exegesis, of God the Father.

[9:56] The ultimate disclosure, of God is the word. Jesus is the ultimate, best, most excellent, exegeter of the Father. He explains him. He draws the meaning out, of who the Father is.

[10:07] It's Jesus. He's the focus. This is the crescendo. This is, this is John, driving all the way, from verse one, all the way to verse 18, which you'll see, similarities between verse one, and verse 18.

[10:20] But John is taking us, from verse 14, verse 18, and the crescendo is, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, exegetes the Father. And he's going to show you that, throughout the rest of the gospel.

[10:33] How Jesus, does that. How the Messiah, Jesus, does that. Explains, exegetes, draws the meaning, out of the Father.

[10:46] He'll show you that. This is why, I put this down. If you want to know God, in the way he should, and must be known, come to Jesus, because he's the ultimate, God exegeter.

[11:01] So I gave you the crescendo. So now we can close in prayer. Shame on you. You were thinking that, weren't you, Travis? I gave you the crescendo.

[11:13] I'm actually going to do the opposite. We started with a crescendo. Now we're going to, what John does, starts in verse 14, it goes to the crescendo. We're doing the opposite.

[11:23] We're going to, we gave you the crescendo, then I'm going to take you back, to verse 14, and how we came up to the crescendo. Does that make sense? That's the idea. That's the method to my madness. Let me, or John, show you how Jesus, is the great exegeter of God.

[11:40] How is Jesus, the ultimate God exegeter? How? Number one, he is full God man. And all these, verse four of them, you're all going to start with, he is full, full, full, full, full.

[11:56] First, he's full God man. Look at verse 14. And the word became flesh. Up to this point, verse one, he called him the word.

[12:08] And then later calls him life. And then, he lands on Jesus being light. He returns back to calling Jesus, the word, who became flesh.

[12:21] Who took on flesh. This is the incarnation. This eternal word took on humanity. Flesh and blood.

[12:31] This was how the word of eternity, became the Jesus of history. Two natures merged into one person.

[12:47] As one confession states, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably. He's 100% God, 100% man.

[13:02] One person. So let that sink in. Yahweh God took on flesh and blood.

[13:16] God. Carson says, quote, this is supreme revelation. The word is the full, complete, self-expression of the father.

[13:37] The final and ultimate revealing of himself is in a real, historical man, God-man. Not Superman.

[13:48] Not Batman. God-man. How is Jesus the ultimate God exegeter? He is full God, full man.

[14:02] He's full God-man. Two, He is full reality. Verse 15, full reality.

[14:12] This God-man was, is for real. Verse 15, John the Baptist bore witness of him and cried out, saying, this was he of whom I said, he who comes after me has come before me for he existed before me.

[14:34] He's for real. He's genuine. He was, or is, a real, true, historical individual who far surpassed John the Baptist.

[14:50] John the apostle who's writing emphasized John the Baptist testimony of the true, historical reality of the word, the God-man, of Jesus.

[15:02] And notice, why did he surpass John? John the end of verse 15, for he existed before me and has absolute primacy.

[15:15] So, his testimony and the testimony of Jesus' disciples as well is that this word has always been in existence and yet he becomes full reality.

[15:29] This is not just made up. This is not just, as we mentioned last week from German theologians, gesichter. This is not embellished story.

[15:41] This is historii. This is historical. This is reality. This is true. John the Baptist is saying, I'm not making this stuff up. A testimony is important.

[15:56] And this is how we know. How is he the one who's gonna explain God? He's full reality. He's just not making this up. He wasn't some psychopath. Jesus truly is who he claimed himself to be.

[16:11] The God-man. He's God-man. Full God-man. He's full reality. Here's number three. Now you're getting to even more of the crescendo. He's full glory.

[16:25] Again, verse 14. The word became flesh, took on flesh, and tabernacled among us. Remember, we had decided that John the Apostle wrote primarily to Jews and Jewish proselytes.

[16:43] So he purposely alludes here to Yahweh's appearance to Moses in Exodus 34 and 33 and 34.

[16:54] That's why we read from Exodus 34 earlier. Remember that? I'm not as dumb as I look, huh? Don't answer that. The tent of meeting was where Yahweh spoke to Moses.

[17:06] And it's this God who took on flesh dwelling with us. And as the tabernacle was the place where God would dwell with his people, so the word took on flesh and tabernacled among people in a real, personal, relational, intimate, genuine way.

[17:27] Glory. Glory. And yet notice what John the Apostle says. And tabernacled among us and we beheld his glory.

[17:44] The us and we. John's talking about himself and the other disciples who saw the word who had taken on flesh becoming the God-man testifying he's true and real.

[18:01] So God's glory was witnessed by John, the other apostles, the disciples in the God made flesh, the word made flesh in the God-man. It's in him but it's not seen by all.

[18:18] We beheld his glory. Not just physical sight is what this word means but it means comprehensively perceived. It means that this God-man glory was studied, viewed, and thoughtfully considered entailing not just this whole ministry but specifically you'll see the signs.

[18:44] Remember we talked about seven signs that John the apostle he brings up in his gospel. The apostles were eyewitnesses of this glory, of this word taken on flesh being the God-man, God eternal.

[18:59] What did we sing? God eternal, humble to the grave. That's why we sang that. They didn't just make this stuff up. This is for real. And when the word or Jesus did a sign it would display and point to his glory.

[19:22] But only the eyes of faith would be able to see the glory revealed in that sign. You'll see that in John's gospel. Not everyone could see this glory. Only those who have the eyes of faith can truly see God's glory in the God-man.

[19:37] only the eyes of faith can see God's glory at the cross. we beheld his glory.

[19:51] Glory as of the only begotten from the Father. Glory. Now let's continue to unpack this part. John, since John alluded to Yahweh's appearance to Moses, this glory is none other than the Shekinah glory of the Old Testament.

[20:06] the dwelling glory of God with his people. It was the bright cloud of God's presence, the visible manifestation of God.

[20:19] The word is the true Shekinah glory. And notice he says, glory as of the only begotten from the Father.

[20:30] Father, so Jesus is the uniquely eternally generated Son of God who was begotten not made before all ages.

[20:46] John is teaching us here the eternal generation of the Son. In other words, Jesus has always been the Son of God.

[20:56] that's what's called in theology the eternal generation of the Son. And you'll see it taught in verse 18. It teaches us from eternity he's always been the Son.

[21:09] He has always been the Son generated from the Father. As long as there's always been the Father, there's always been the Son. And so I don't take the view which I think the New International Version, the English Standard Version, it has one and only, I actually think it should be translated as only begotten because I think the root is monogamous which is that of begetting for all you geeks out there wanting to know that stuff.

[21:35] There you go. The eternal generation of the Son. So here he's bringing us to this crescendo. He's full God man, full reality, full glory, and what does this glory entail?

[21:52] Full grace and truth, number four. glory is of the only begotten from the Father, notice, full of grace and truth.

[22:09] The only begotten from the Father. And he's the fullest, greatest expression of grace and truth. He's full grace and truth.

[22:22] The glory that was manifested in the word was full of grace and truth which takes us back to Exodus again. Do you remember Exodus 33?

[22:39] Moses' question. He says, asks, requests, show me your glory. And Yahweh responded, see my back and I'll let all my goodness pass before you.

[23:01] Pass in front of you, Exodus 33, 18. But, he could not see him else he would what? Die. Remember when Yahweh says that?

[23:12] So what is the supreme glory of God that Yahweh was going to reveal to Moses?

[23:25] God's goodness. And when he passed by Exodus 34, Yahweh spoke words in the beginning was the, say it with me, was the word.

[24:16] That's interesting. Yahweh spoke words to Moses and what did he say? You read it. The Lord, the Lord, New American Standard, Yahweh, Yahweh, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in chesed and truth.

[24:37] Chesed is the Hebrew word for covenant, faithful, steadfast love, covenant keeping, faithful, steadfast love and truth.

[24:49] Or Yahweh is abounding in covenant love or grace and truth. So who is the fullest expression of this goodness, of this grace, of this truth?

[25:04] the word, Jesus. So this also means that the very glory which passed in front of Moses, the greatest prophet who's ever lived, was none other than the Lord Jesus.

[25:21] It was him. And John's saying that he and the others, they saw that glory in the word. And now, look at how he unpacks this even more for you.

[25:33] Look at verse 16. For of his fullness, that's the fullness of God's Shekinah glory, we all received it in the word. Even, you have this phrase, it's translated in a numeric standard, grace upon grace.

[25:49] The word upon is actually the Greek word ante, which means instead of. And in him is found grace instead of or in place of grace.

[26:03] So grace, which is God's unmerited favor, undeserved favor to sinners, it's grace instead of grace.

[26:16] What? What do you mean? Look at verse 17. Verse 17 explains it to you. For the law was given through Moses.

[26:28] Stop there. The law was given through Moses. What was displayed to Moses in Exodus 34? The goodness of God. What's the greatest display of the goodness of God?

[26:41] Grace and truth. God redeemed his people by his grace. God gave his law to his people by his grace.

[26:52] God dwelt with Israel by his grace. Friends, God showed grace in the Old Testament. Don't think that people go, there's no grace in the Old Testament.

[27:03] All the grace is in the New Testament. That's how it is. Why do you say that? That's not what the Bible is about.

[27:14] There's grace in the Old Testament. Do you think Israel deserved God to redeem them? Did they deserve it? That's when all of you say no. Did they deserve it?

[27:25] No. What's that called? Grace. Did they deserve to be given the law? That's when you say no.

[27:37] Did they deserve to be given the law? No. What's that called? Grace. Did they deserve to have Yahweh dwell with them?

[27:52] No. What's that called? Tell me. Grace. Don't listen to somebody who tells you there's no grace in the Old Testament. They either don't know what they're talking about or they're trying to sell you something.

[28:09] There's grace in the Old Testament. That's all grace, man. This grace and truth now came in its fullest way in Jesus Christ.

[28:25] not Moses. And this is important for a Jew to understand. Grace in Jesus. How come that's not up there?

[28:37] What is this? Here it is. Grace in Jesus replaces the grace given to Moses. was an act of grace in the Old Testament with God's Shekinah glory with his people.

[28:55] Now it's replaced with a greater, fuller grace and truth. Who? the word. The God man.

[29:09] The Messiah. Jesus. Grace in Jesus replaces the grace given to Moses.

[29:21] And he's the greater, fuller grace and truth. That's why he says grace and truth. It says we realize actually it's the same word came.

[29:33] Came through Jesus Christ. Now this is what I wanted to put up there before. In the word the fuller, excuse me, further, fuller, final, ultimate, greatest expression of grace and truth is displayed because Jesus Christ is the true embodiment of God's grace and truth or of God's goodness or of God's glory.

[30:00] It's in Jesus. It's in him. And this is what a Jew needed to understand. And this is what you need to understand. John's trying to help you understand this is who Jesus is and this is why it should matter to you.

[30:17] He's the fullest way that God shows his glory. No. He's the fullest way that God shows his goodness.

[30:30] No. He's the fullest way God shows grace and truth. No. He's the fullest way God shows his glory, goodness, grace, truth. It's in Jesus. It's in the word.

[30:40] It's in the God man. Full grace and truth, full glory, full reality, full God man. It's him. And now you can receive this.

[31:01] You want to receive glory? You want to receive God's goodness? You want to receive grace and truth? Come to Jesus.

[31:17] And it just, it continues. You can know him more. You can see more glory. You can receive more of this glory and of this goodness, of this grace, this truth.

[31:27] How do I know that? Jesus prayed that for you. You don't believe me? John chapter 17. Listen to what Jesus prayed for you.

[31:44] Father, John 17 24, I desire that they also, whom you've given to me, these are all his people, his chosen ones, may be with me where I am in order that they may see my glory which you've given to me.

[32:08] You've loved me before the foundation of the world. He wants you to see more of his glory, more of goodness, more grace, more truth. And what's the pinnacle of his glory?

[32:26] The pinnacle of his glory, the pinnacle of his goodness, the pinnacle of his grace, the pinnacle of his truth is the word. And what the word has done, he's gone to the cross.

[32:42] Do you want to know truth? Do you want to experience grace today? Have you not experienced grace? Do you need forgiveness of your sins? You can be given grace, you can be given truth, it's found in Jesus, repent and trust Jesus, he'll save you, he'll change you, he'll love you, because in him you'll find compassion, a God who's slow to anger and who's abounding in his grace and truth.

[33:14] Come, receive Jesus. If you're here, you don't know Jesus, come. See, this is, John's working us up, she's going all the way, and then the crescendo is verse 18, the ultimate God exegeter.

[33:33] No man has seen God at any time, reminding us what he says to Moses, in Exodus 33, 20, no man can see God and live. He's not the big guy upstairs, hey, big guy upstairs, what's up?

[33:46] He's holy, awesome, mighty, you see him, you'll die. No man has seen God at any time, the only begotten God, there's hope.

[33:58] The uniquely begotten one has a unique intimate love with the Father who is in the bosom of the Father. There's mutual love, there's knowledge, there's fellowship, there's intimacy, and by the way, I take this to be translated as the only begotten God, not Son, because I think John has taken us back to verse one.

[34:20] In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. That's why he says the only begotten God, who's in the bosom of the Father. There's intimacy, there's fellowship, there's knowledge, the Son, the Son, the Son, the Spirit.

[34:39] It was an eternal, abiding, closeness, intimate fellowship amongst the three. That's why he says, then the word was with God in verse one. So the one who enjoys a close, personal, intimate relationship with God is the one, the word who explains God, who makes him known.

[35:01] He's the exegesis of the Father. The ultimate disclosure of God is in the word. There's the crescendo. It's found in the word.

[35:11] It's found in Jesus. It's found in the God man. This full reality, this full glory, this full grace and truth, it's in him. It's the word. The word, as God's own self expression, is the one who fully and ultimately reveals the Father.

[35:33] Remember, that's why Jesus is going to say to Philip, buddy, have you been with me for so long? He who has seen me has seen the Father.

[35:47] I'm the one who explains him. I'm the one who exegetes him. It's me, Philip. It's me. Anyone who's seen Jesus has seen the Father because he exegetes the Father fully.

[36:02] There's no other way you can know God except through the exegeter, Jesus, the word, the God-man, the God-man, glory, grace, truth, him.

[36:20] If you want to know God in the way he should and must be known, come to Jesus because he's the ultimate God exegeter. it's so good that you, if you're here, you've experienced God's grace and truth.

[36:35] It's found in Jesus. We know that. We have that. Would you pray with me?

[36:45] Lord Jesus, thank you that you are God-man.

[37:02] You are for real. Your glory, your full grace and truth, you are the one who explains the meaning of God.

[37:15] it's you. It's all found in you. And may this truth drive us to run to you even more, to worship you even more, to thank you even more, to love you even more.

[37:39] And you will increase the truth that we may understand more. You'll increase your grace because we are sinners who need it.

[37:53] And that grace will transform us to be a people who demonstrate who you are. take this time, please.

[38:10] It'll be about a minute or so, whatever, of silence between you and the Lord. Let this be a time to fill your mind with truth, fill your mind with grace, fill your mind with the God man, this full reality.

[38:27] fill your mind with the word. Be encouraged by the promises that we've seen this morning.

[38:41] And you know, the drill, we'll sing a couple songs, we'll pray. But let this, about a minute or so, be this time between you and the Lord to reflect upon what we've seen in His word.

[38:56]  Would you do that now, please?