AM John 1:1-42 The Word...We have seen his glory...Full of Grace and Truth

[0:00] the Word of God and read from the fourth gospel in John chapter 1. John chapter 1 on page 1068 of the Church Bible.

[0:16] John chapter 1 and we'll read up to verse 42. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

[0:44] He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

[1:00] In whom was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

[1:16] There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.

[1:27] He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

[1:41] He was in the world, and the world was made through him. Yet, the world did not know him.

[1:54] He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born.

[2:11] Not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the word became flesh, and dwelt among us.

[2:29] And we have seen his glory. Glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

[2:41] John bore witness about him, and cried out, This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.

[2:55] For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses.

[3:06] Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Christ. No one has ever seen God. The only God, who is at the Father's side.

[3:20] He has made him known. This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you?

[3:35] He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Are you Elijah?

[3:47] He said, I am not. Are you the prophet? And he answered, No. So they said to him, Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us.

[4:00] What do you say about yourself? He said, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said.

[4:18] No, they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor the Elijah, nor the prophet?

[4:32] John answered them, I baptize with water. But among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.

[4:49] These things took place in Bethany, across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

[5:05] This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me. I myself do not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.

[5:17] John bore witness, I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove and remained on him. I myself do not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

[5:37] And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. The next day again, John was standing with two of his disciples. And he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, Behold, the Lamb of God.

[5:59] The two disciples heard him say this and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, What are you seeking? And they said to him, Rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying?

[6:13] He said to them, Come and you will see. So they came and saw where he was staying. And they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

[6:29] He first found his own brother Simon, said to him, We have found the Messiah, which means Christ. He brought him to Jesus.

[6:41] Jesus looked at him and said, You are Simon, the son of John. You shall be called Cephas, which means Peter.

[6:52] May God bless his word to us. Let us join in prayer again. Let us pray. This morning we hope to consider for a short time verse 14 of John chapter 1 and under three very obvious headings.

[7:13] The coming of the word, the Lord Jesus Christ, the experience of his glory, exemplified particularly in his grace and truth. And the testimony, we have seen, we have seen his glory, which raises the question, Have you and I seen his glory?

[7:31] As you know, the Lord Jesus Christ has many titles in scripture. Robert is, on Wednesdays, is going through the titles of the Lord Jesus, which is the letter T for teacher, even last Wednesday.

[7:52] We read of him, as the passage we read, as the Lamb of God. We read him as a faithful and true one. But particularly in this passage, we read of his title of the word.

[8:05] The word. Now, it's perhaps surprising, a surprising title.

[8:17] The word logos. Get a word logic from it. About communication. Why the word? It's because in himself, he expresses the fullness of God.

[8:38] Whether by his person or by what he says. He fully expresses God. He is the word. The ultimate word.

[8:49] He is the last word. The first and the last word. He reveals, as the word, God to us. He is the one who acts for the Father.

[9:02] He is the executor for his Father. He obeys his Father and does his holy will. He is the one who speaks and it is done.

[9:15] He made all things in the beginning. And then we see him here on earth speaking while on the sea of Galilee.

[9:28] Saying, peace, be still. And the wind and the water ceases their violence. He only has to speak.

[9:40] And it is done. That blind beggar in Jericho. He only spoke the word. And it was done.

[9:53] He prayed over the bread. And the fish. And a multitude was fed. The word became flesh.

[10:07] Incarnate. He was incarnate. The word became incarnate. Became in flesh. Now we know that our Lord Jesus appeared before Bethlehem on this world.

[10:23] A number of instances are quoted in the Old Testament. And there was Abraham sitting by his tent. And that very hot day by the Oaks of Mamre. And three men came.

[10:36] And one of them was different. There was the time of Jacob. And that awesome night by the stream Jabbok.

[10:48] And he met someone who was different. And he wrestled with them. There was in Babylon. Three men.

[11:00] Faithful to and true to God. Thrown into the burning fiery furnace. And Nebuchadnezzar. That proud man.

[11:13] Saw a fourth man walking there. Unharmed with them. The fourth man. We know. Who it was. These were what we call pre-incarnation appearances of Christ.

[11:29] And there are others too. But in John 1 verse 14 it's different. The word became incarnate. He appeared in the flesh.

[11:39] He became man. It was. We read in Galatians chapter 4. When the fullness of time had come. God sent forth his son.

[11:51] Born. Of a woman. Born. Under the law. To redeem those who are under the law. So that we might receive adoption of sons.

[12:02] He was born. Of a woman. A descendant of David. He was born under the law. He was circumcised. On the eighth day according to the law. With that minimal sacrifice.

[12:14] Which was permitted to the poor. Just a couple of doves. On the eighth day. Since he was born. He was circumcised. His conception.

[12:26] In the womb of Mary. Is a mystery. Mary learned from the angel Gabriel. That the Holy Spirit. Will come upon you. And the power of the most high. Will overshadow you.

[12:39] Jesus. To quote a writer. Was the true. Biological. Son. Of his mother. Mary. Confession of faith.

[12:50] States. That he was. Of her. Substance. A human being. But a virgin birth. A miracle.

[13:01] The Holy Spirit. Will have come. Upon you. In your boyhood. There were brothers. There was. There was. James. There was Judas.

[13:11] Not Iscariot. James. Judas. There was Joseph. There was Simon. There were sisters. And he grew up. As a boy. In a big family. And.

[13:24] When he came of age. He was. Apprenticed. As a. Carpenter. Working for Joseph. Joseph. The word.

[13:37] Was made flesh. That. Says a lot. About him. It means that. He knows. Our.

[13:48] Circumstances. Intimately. He knows. What it is like. To live. In this world. He knew. Weakness.

[13:59] He knew. Tiredness. We see him. Sitting. Tired. And hungry. At a well side. In Samaria. We see him.

[14:11] Subject to grief. And a troubled mind. When Lazarus. His friend. Had died. And he's.

[14:22] With Mary. And Martha. And he comes. To that tomb. And he. He says. In a loud voice. The word. Says.

[14:33] In a loud voice. Lazarus. Come out. The word. And he was. Subject to. Overwhelming.

[14:43] Anguish. Of heart. In that. Dark. Night. In the. Olive Grove. Of Gethsemane. The word. Became.

[14:54] Flesh. But he did not cease. To be the word. We shall see that. In a bit more detail. Shortly. He takes human nature. While still possessing.

[15:06] Divine nature. He did not cease. To be the word. Equal with his father. When he became flesh. He was perfect God. And perfect man.

[15:18] And that is. How he is. Today. Today. And forever. Perfect God. And perfect man. Jesus Christ. And he dwelt.

[15:29] Among us. Literally. He pitched his tent. Among us. For a while. Not. In the mists of. Of legend. Prehistory.

[15:40] But in recorded history. He pitched his tent. Here for a trial. In the times of. Augustus Caesar. The Roman Emperor. And his successor. Tiberius Caesar.

[15:51] And the local. Governorships. Of Herod. And Pilate. Is in. Real time. That's when he. He dwelt. Among us. In recorded time.

[16:02] The eternal. Son of God. Knowing. By experience. What it is. To live here. As a person.

[16:14] First hand. He had known all things. But this time. He was living. By experience. In this world. Feeling tired.

[16:26] Feeling dusty. Feeling dirty. Feeling sad. Feeling weary. Feeling the. The sinfulness. The awful sinfulness.

[16:36] All about him. He shared. In our humanity. And we read. That he.

[16:48] That his followers. Could say. That they had seen. His glory. They experienced. His glory. He says.

[16:58] We. And it's. John is talking. In the plural. We. Not just him. But. The other disciples. And many others. Saw. His glory.

[17:10] Just as that. Blind man. And Joshua. Saw the glory. Of Jesus. And. When the man. Was sought out. And found. By Jesus.

[17:21] When the man. In Jerusalem. Been blind. And was found. By Jesus. He saw him. And he saw his glory. We saw.

[17:34] A man. But more than that. We have found. The Christ. That's what Andrew could say to. To his brother. We have found.

[17:45] The Christ. They saw his glory. And what. What was the nature. Of his glory. It was a glory. As of the. Only son. From the father. The eternal son.

[17:58] He was with. Had been with God. In the beginning. That was his glory. Displaying. Displaying God. When we look at. Jesus. We see. We see God.

[18:09] In verse 18. No one has ever seen God. The only God. Is at the father's side. He has made him known. When we see. Jesus. We see.

[18:20] God. The father. In him. The whole. Fullness. Of deity. Dwells. Bodily. Colossians 2.

[18:31] The full. Fullness. Of deity. Dwells. Bodily. And. John. Gives us. Two major. Aspects. Of his glory. His grace. And his truth.

[18:41] He is full of grace. You know. Paul. Goodright. You know. The grace. Of our Lord. Jesus Christ. That though. He was rich. Yet. For your sake.

[18:52] He became poor. So that you. Through his poverty. Might become rich. We see. His grace. And his life. Made at the very beginning.

[19:02] At the wedding. In Cana. The wine had run out. And he. Created more wine. And we read the disciples.

[19:14] He could say. They saw a manifestation. Of his glory. Glory. In his grace.

[19:27] We could look at. Throughout. John's gospel. Various places. We could go to Samaria. We could go to Bethesda's pool. We could go to the eastern shore of Galilee. And see. A few fish.

[19:38] And a few loaves of bread. As Jesus. Gave thanks for them. Feeding. Five thousand men. To such an extent. That we read in the scriptures.

[19:49] That they had eaten. Their fill. It just wasn't just a. A little snack. They ate their fill. And there were leftovers. As well.

[20:02] He was full of grace. To the sick. The hungry. The disappointed. To the deserted. There was that man.

[20:13] Born. Born blind. And he had been deserted. Thrown out. Jesus.

[20:23] Jesus. Went looking for him. Just like the shepherd. In the parable. In the wilderness. Looked for the lost sheep. He went looking for him.

[20:36] Yet more grace. Grace to those. Too. Who had brought trouble on themselves. Their own troubles. The way they had lived. We'll read examples of that.

[20:46] In John's gospel too. The way they had lived. They had brought trouble upon themselves. But he showed grace. To them. Grace to the undeserving. That's the. Real.

[20:57] Ultimate meeting. Meaning of grace. It's. The loving kindness. Of God. Our saviour. To the. Those who do not deserve. Anything. We see that.

[21:09] Illustrated. In John's gospel. See it in the case of the woman. Caught in adultery. And we see his grace. Not only in his death.

[21:20] But in his life. Not only in his life. But in his death. We see it. In his culmination.

[21:31] In the sixth to the ninth hour. In the afternoon. Twelve o'clock to three o'clock. As he hung. Dying. On a cross.

[21:41] Between. Two thieves. And he cries out. My God. My God. Why have you. Forsaken me. He knew a desertion.

[21:54] A desertion of soul. And abandonment. Such as we will never experience. Unless.

[22:07] We should find ourselves. Through unbelief. In hell. Abandonment. Desertion.

[22:20] In that time. That time. At Calvary. Dharma Crowd wrote. That in that tiny space. In that tiny. That fraction of time.

[22:31] God gathered the sin of the world. And there and then. In the flesh of his own son. He condemned it.

[22:43] Christ suffered. In his flesh. Body. And soul. On the cross. And displaying.

[22:55] His grace. We see his grace. In his life. His death. But not only do we see. His glory.

[23:07] Demonstrated in his grace. His love and kindness. We see it. Demonstrated in his truth. At least 30 times. In the gospel of John. Jesus says. Truly.

[23:18] Truly. Take note. Take heed. This is the truth. I'm telling you the truth. I'm telling you the truth of God. I am the way. And the truth.

[23:29] That's what I am. I am the truth. And the life. No one comes to the Father. Except through me. No one can see the kingdom of God.

[23:40] Unless he's born again. He tells the truth. About us. He was telling the truth. About. Them in the temple. That day.

[23:50] When he met. The man born blind. He was telling them the truth. About themselves. They didn't like it. Didn't like what they were hearing. So they picked up stones. He bore witness to the truth.

[24:04] And he says. Everyone. Everyone who is of the truth. Listens to me. Listens to my voice. Pilate. In that very modern.

[24:17] 21st century way. Say. It was 2,000 years ago. When Jesus said. That he is the truth. Before Pilate.

[24:28] Anyone who is of the truth. Listens to my voice. He said to Pilate. Pilate said. What is truth? What is truth? And that's the way people speak today. My truth.

[24:39] Your truth. It's all nonsense. There's truth. And there's error. There's truth. And there's falsehood. We need.

[24:51] His grace. And his truth. He became flesh. And we. Have seen his glory. And there's a testimony in this verse.

[25:06] John writes. We have seen. We've seen his glory. Yes. We saw it. Doesn't mention here. We saw it at the transfiguration. An amazing way.

[25:18] Three of them did. God. But time and time again. Every day. They witnessed the grace. And truth. In the Lord Jesus Christ.

[25:29] Night and day. They witnessed his glory. In his grace and truth. Day after day. For three years. They saw. His glory.

[25:40] John can write this testimony. About. About him. Towards the end of the gospel. He says. He who has sworn.

[25:53] Saw the dying of the Lord Jesus. His testimony is true. He's bearing witness. He knows he's telling the truth. That you may believe. That you may believe.

[26:04] He'll say again. And. And. Right at the. End. End of the. Gospel. This is the disciple. Who is bearing witness. About these things.

[26:15] Who has written these things. And we know. That his testimony. Is true. Now there are also. Many other things. That Jesus did. Were every one of them. To be written. I suppose. That the world itself.

[26:25] Could not contain the books. That would be written. These things are written. He says. That you may believe. That Jesus.

[26:37] Is the Christ. The son of the living God. We have seen. We have believed. We have examined him.

[26:49] We have scrutinized him. Nothing escaped our attention. He was consistent. Day in. Day out. We have seen.

[27:03] Is this true. Of you and me. Have we seen. Are we. In verse 10.

[27:15] Of John chapter 1. We read. He was in the world. And the world was made through him. Yet the world. Did not know him. Or verse 11. He came to his own.

[27:27] And his own people. Did not receive him. Have we. Recognized. And seen. His glory. In his grace.

[27:38] In his loving kindness. To the undeserving. In his truth. Have we seen it. Or is the. God of this world. Blinding.

[27:49] Our minds. Like so many. So that we cannot see. The light of the gospel. In the face of Jesus.

[28:00] Christ. Are our minds. Hardened. As Paul put it. In one place. Are we. Resisting him.

[28:10] Saying no. To him. Do you see. A glimpse. Of his glory. Jesus said. Whoever.

[28:21] Comes to me. I will never. Cast out. I won't drive away. Anyone. Who comes to me. I will welcome him. That's Jesus's promise.

[28:37] Do you see. A glimpse. Of his glory. A glimpse. Will do. Paul could write. We see in a mirror. Dimly now. God.

[28:48] But then. In glory. In heaven. We shall see. Face to face. We read. In God's word. God.

[28:59] Who said. Let light. Light shine. Out of darkness. At the creation. Has shone. In our hearts. To give the light. Of the knowledge. Of the glory.

[29:11] Of God. God. Where do we see. The light. Of the. Light. Of the knowledge. Of the glory. Of God. Paul says. We see it.

[29:21] In the face. Of Jesus. Face of Jesus Christ. It's in Christ. It is an eternal son. The word.

[29:32] Who has made. Flesh. Flesh. This is a dweller. In those three or four words. The word. Was made flesh. The eternal son of God.

[29:43] Was made flesh. And. Had a body. And knew what it was. To live in this life. And sympathizes with us.

[29:54] In all our weaknesses. And can help us. In our temptations. Because he too. Knew. The enormous. Powers of temptation. From the evil one.

[30:05] And knew. What it was. To resist it. To resist it. To the uttermost. However hard. Satan. Pressed him. Now.

[30:18] The man. Christ Jesus. Is in heaven. Today. He's in heaven. In glory. At the right hand. Of his father. From whence. He one day. He will return. And come again.

[30:30] Are we waiting for him? Are we looking forward. To his coming? Is that our desire? Is that our anticipation? Go to him.

[30:42] Go to him in prayer. He won't drive you away. He welcomes. He welcomes. Sinners. That's his admission.

[30:54] He shows grace. To the undeserving. porczynars. Well let us. Close our time.PH