1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,480 The decade of the 80s is just about to end, just a few hours now, and what an amazing 2 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:15,820 way it comes to an end, with events unfolding especially in the last few weeks and months 3 00:00:15,820 --> 00:00:20,820 that no one could have predicted ten years ago. 4 00:00:20,820 --> 00:00:25,960 If you could ask God for anything, what would you ask Him for? 5 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:34,680 If you could ask Him for insight and understanding as to what was going to happen in the 90s, 6 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:38,080 would you ask Him for that? 7 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:41,840 I'm not sure that I would want to know ahead of time what's going to happen in the next 8 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:42,840 decade. 9 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:47,240 Maybe you're different than I am, but I'm willing to take one day at a time. 10 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:49,160 That's about all I can handle. 11 00:00:49,160 --> 00:00:54,920 But it would be interesting to be able to ask God for that sort of thing, wouldn't 12 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:55,920 it? 13 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:59,600 I'll end my talk with a friend. 14 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:06,800 The man Moses in the Old Testament conversed with God that way. 15 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:13,360 Exodus chapter 33, if you'll turn there please, tells us that there was a tent called 16 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:21,740 the Tent of the Meeting that Moses used to set up before the tabernacle was constructed. 17 00:01:21,740 --> 00:01:26,360 It was away from the people of Israel, but they could see where it was. 18 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:33,960 And every day, Moses and his servant Joshua, along with him, would go out to the Tent of 19 00:01:33,960 --> 00:01:36,100 the Meeting. 20 00:01:36,100 --> 00:01:43,800 And there at that tent, God would descend and speak to Moses in such an intimate way 21 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:53,320 as is described as a friend with a friend. 22 00:01:53,320 --> 00:02:05,760 In Exodus chapter 33, the last part of the chapter, Moses asked something of God which 23 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:09,160 was bold on his part. 24 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:14,680 You're not bold if you think of a friend talking with a friend. 25 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:26,680 For as they conversed one afternoon, in verse 18, Moses said, I pray thee, show me thy glory. 26 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:28,920 Show me thy glory. 27 00:02:28,920 --> 00:02:37,800 Moses was saying, God, I see you here in this pillar of cloud. 28 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:49,280 But as we have gotten to know each other, I really desire to see you in your essence. 29 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:59,040 And God said to Moses, I myself will make all my goodness pass before you. 30 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:04,080 Notice as God begins to describe the essence of his person, the word that he chooses to 31 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,800 use is my goodness. 32 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:13,160 You and I serve a God who is good. 33 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:18,880 And he says, I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you, and I will be gracious to 34 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:25,360 whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion. 35 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:32,680 But he said, you cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live. 36 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:37,520 Now, God doesn't have a face like you and I have a face. 37 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:40,160 God is spirit. 38 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:45,800 So God is using human language here to describe to Moses what it would be like to look upon 39 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:47,760 his essence. 40 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:52,960 He says, Moses, you cannot look upon me in my essence. 41 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:56,600 You cannot do that and live. 42 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:04,280 And the Lord said, behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand there on the rock, 43 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:10,600 and it will come about while my glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the 44 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:15,920 rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 45 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:24,760 Then I will take my hand away and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen. 46 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:34,100 This was a way of saying, Moses, you cannot look directly at the essence of my glory. 47 00:04:34,100 --> 00:04:35,600 So therefore I will protect you. 48 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:41,320 I will, as it were, put my hand over you there in the cleft of the rock, but after I have 49 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:48,480 passed by, I will take my hand away for a moment and let you see the afterglow of my 50 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:51,480 glory. 51 00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:59,640 Verse 5 of chapter 34, And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood there with him as 52 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:03,600 he called upon the name of the Lord. 53 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:12,480 Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate 54 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:21,560 and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness and truth. 55 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:26,840 Now it is particularly that last phrase in verse 6 that I'm interested in, abounding 56 00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:34,320 in loving kindness and truth, because that is the Old Testament equivalent to the phrase 57 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:43,160 that we find in the Gospel of John that says, full of grace and truth. 58 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:53,800 The same God who appeared to Moses is the Lord Jesus Christ who is full of grace and 59 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:54,800 truth. 60 00:05:54,800 --> 00:06:00,200 I'd like for you to turn now to the Gospel of John, the first chapter, as we look at 61 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:09,720 the text for today, and think about the coming of Christ, or using the title that John uses 62 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:18,400 of him in these first 18 verses, the Word, the Logos of God. 63 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:26,480 In his coming, John tells us as he concludes this first bit of his Gospel, in the coming 64 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:33,480 of the Word, he fulfilled his work, and John tells us what he did. 65 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:41,080 In the first place, he dispensed the fullness of grace, verse 16. 66 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:47,360 That fullness is described in verse 14, the phrase we've already referred to. 67 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:50,120 It's a direct link to verse 14. 68 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:55,440 Verse 15 actually is parenthetical, the witness of John. 69 00:06:55,440 --> 00:07:01,600 We go from this phrase, the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth, 70 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:07,720 right to verse 16 that says, for of his fullness we have all received. 71 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:13,360 The word fullness means completeness. 72 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:19,840 It means in the first place that our Lord is so filled with grace and truth that no 73 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:23,980 more of it could be his than already is his. 74 00:07:23,980 --> 00:07:26,240 He is complete. 75 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:32,960 The apostle Paul uses this same word in writing to the Colossians, and he says, for it pleased 76 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:42,440 the Father to make all the fullness to dwell in Christ. 77 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:50,840 Goes on to say, for all the fullness of the deity dwells in him bodily, or dwells in his 78 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:53,600 body, is another way to put it. 79 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:55,920 The fullness. 80 00:07:55,920 --> 00:08:01,620 It refers to all that God is, is in Christ. 81 00:08:01,620 --> 00:08:05,600 In Jesus Christ there is nothing lacking. 82 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:13,160 He is the fullness of all that God is, as well as all that man is. 83 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:20,080 John says we all, that would embrace us today who have believed on Christ, he says we all 84 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:24,800 have received of his fullness. 85 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:29,480 Out of his fullness the Lord gave to us that which we most have needed, and that is his 86 00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:31,600 grace. 87 00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:34,040 God's favor. 88 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:41,560 God's intervention on our behalf, when what we deserved was his wrath and judgment. 89 00:08:41,560 --> 00:08:47,200 John says here that there is no exhaustion of this grace of God. 90 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:50,200 There is no limit to the depths of its resources. 91 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:59,200 He puts it this way, grace upon grace, or grace instead of grace, or grace in place of 92 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:01,140 grace. 93 00:09:01,140 --> 00:09:08,000 The idea is it's constant provision and availability to us. 94 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:15,400 He is saying there is never a hint of any insufficiency, or any economy on God's part, 95 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:21,080 it's fullness of grace constantly given to us. 96 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:26,320 The language pictures the action of a wave. 97 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:30,520 This last summer our family was privileged to spend a few days on the Atlantic coast 98 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:31,520 down in Florida. 99 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:36,720 And oh, I tell you we enjoyed the ocean, we always do. 100 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:44,400 Many of you have been to the ocean, and there you have gotten into the water, and you have 101 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:48,360 felt the waves hit your legs, and then as you walked out further eventually it gets 102 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:50,000 up to your chest. 103 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:54,520 You can put out your arms and walk just a little further, and the waves begin to carry 104 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:56,240 you as they come in. 105 00:09:56,240 --> 00:10:00,640 And you hit the sand, and then the next wave comes and you go up with it, and you are not 106 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:04,960 touching the bottom, and then you go down with the next wave, and then up again and 107 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:05,960 down. 108 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:09,920 I don't mean to make you seasick if you are prone to that, but that's the idea isn't 109 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:10,920 it? 110 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:11,920 Just one wave after another. 111 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:16,440 We were there on a stormy couple of days. 112 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:20,800 The storm was out at sea, but it brought some great waves into the shore. 113 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:25,320 Waves that allowed us to only go out so far, it just wore us out. 114 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:27,200 We tried to beat the waves down. 115 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:32,040 We would run against them and push against them and try to stop the waves, but oh, how 116 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:34,160 futile that is. 117 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:35,400 Why? 118 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:37,340 Because that's just the action of the ocean. 119 00:10:37,340 --> 00:10:40,440 The waves are there always. 120 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:43,760 There's no way that we can stop them. 121 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:48,320 There's no exhaustion of the waves, though we become exhausted. 122 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:51,780 And so it is with the grace of God. 123 00:10:51,780 --> 00:11:00,500 One wave after another of the grace of God ministering to us. 124 00:11:00,500 --> 00:11:08,340 Never to be exhausted, though we may grow weary and tired, it is always there. 125 00:11:08,340 --> 00:11:14,080 And as it were, we may put out our arms and rest upon the waves of God's grace as it 126 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:17,420 carries us along. 127 00:11:17,420 --> 00:11:26,140 To draw upon this grace that Jesus Christ has brought is not to deplete it. 128 00:11:26,140 --> 00:11:31,500 To draw upon that grace is not to diminish it whatsoever. 129 00:11:31,500 --> 00:11:41,980 For those waves of His grace have hidden springs in His divine nature that constantly replenish 130 00:11:41,980 --> 00:11:44,220 the ocean of His kindness. 131 00:11:44,220 --> 00:11:51,340 Dr. Edwin Bloom writes, the Christian life is the constant reception of one evidence 132 00:11:51,340 --> 00:11:57,940 of God's grace replacing another. 133 00:11:57,940 --> 00:12:01,380 We sinners need this kind of grace, don't we? 134 00:12:01,380 --> 00:12:06,500 What we deserve is the judgment of God because of our sin. 135 00:12:06,500 --> 00:12:13,460 And in fact, the one who rejects the grace of God will experience the wrath of God. 136 00:12:13,460 --> 00:12:19,420 In fact, the Bible says that to reject Jesus Christ is to have the wrath of God already 137 00:12:19,420 --> 00:12:25,020 abiding upon you. 138 00:12:25,020 --> 00:12:33,660 But to believe in Him and to receive Him means to partake of this grace of God, the grace 139 00:12:33,660 --> 00:12:44,820 that gives to us what we do not deserve, that is, forgiveness of all of our sins and eternal 140 00:12:44,820 --> 00:12:51,940 life, which means purpose here now in this world and being with Christ forever. 141 00:12:51,940 --> 00:12:59,100 We do not deserve that, but that's the fullness of the grace that Jesus brought. 142 00:12:59,100 --> 00:13:03,900 When we have trusted Him, there is one wave that follows the first and then a third and 143 00:13:03,900 --> 00:13:07,340 fourth. 144 00:13:07,340 --> 00:13:13,660 Someone may ask you sometime, have you received the second blessing, which is an old terminology 145 00:13:13,660 --> 00:13:16,260 of Arminian theology. 146 00:13:16,260 --> 00:13:20,420 The fact is that those of us who know Jesus Christ have received not just the second but 147 00:13:20,420 --> 00:13:25,020 the third and the tenth and the hundredth and the thousandth blessing. 148 00:13:25,020 --> 00:13:31,860 Just wave upon wave of God's goodness and grace has come to us. 149 00:13:31,860 --> 00:13:40,100 You can be foolish like we were in our games at the ocean. 150 00:13:40,100 --> 00:13:43,460 You can try to outrun the waves. 151 00:13:43,460 --> 00:13:44,920 You can try to beat them down. 152 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:51,060 You can try to see if you can outlast them, the fact is that you can't. 153 00:13:51,060 --> 00:13:56,960 It's possible for you and for me to become exhausted as we strive to live the Christian 154 00:13:56,960 --> 00:14:03,900 life in our own strength, as we try to live up to our own little standards and rules or 155 00:14:03,900 --> 00:14:08,740 someone else's that they impose on us. 156 00:14:08,740 --> 00:14:13,740 We can get exhausted doing that sort of thing, but God's grace is there and oh, if we'll 157 00:14:13,740 --> 00:14:18,360 just rest upon God's grace, it will carry us. 158 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:24,560 Of His fullness, we have all received one wave of grace after another. 159 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:30,060 When the word came, He dispensed the fullness of grace. 160 00:14:30,060 --> 00:14:34,140 That grace is available to you today. 161 00:14:34,140 --> 00:14:37,860 It's available to you to save you from your sin. 162 00:14:37,860 --> 00:14:43,600 It's available to you if you are saved to carry you through this life, through the rest 163 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:49,980 of 89, these hours that are to come, and into 1990. 164 00:14:49,980 --> 00:14:56,900 God's grace is there and available to carry you on for whatever lies ahead. 165 00:14:56,900 --> 00:15:03,880 Then we see that not only did the word dispense the grace of God, but He also displaced the 166 00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:09,000 law of Moses, verse 17. 167 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:12,020 John brings into antithesis here. 168 00:15:12,020 --> 00:15:15,860 The law and grace and truth. 169 00:15:15,860 --> 00:15:17,900 Do you notice that? 170 00:15:17,900 --> 00:15:20,060 The law was given through Moses. 171 00:15:20,060 --> 00:15:24,580 Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 172 00:15:24,580 --> 00:15:33,580 John is here stating that the law has been displaced by something that is better. 173 00:15:33,580 --> 00:15:43,220 As good as the law was for its purpose, the fact is that it could not bring sinners any 174 00:15:43,220 --> 00:15:45,380 righteousness. 175 00:15:45,380 --> 00:15:48,820 It could not make them right with God. 176 00:15:48,820 --> 00:15:55,760 But in His coming, Jesus Christ has fully exposed grace and truth. 177 00:15:55,760 --> 00:16:02,100 Grace and truth that were only intimated in the law. 178 00:16:02,100 --> 00:16:09,140 Through His coming, the Son of God has made it possible for us to be right with God. 179 00:16:09,140 --> 00:16:14,020 The law was given that sin might be exposed. 180 00:16:14,020 --> 00:16:18,380 God never gave it to be a solution for man's predicament. 181 00:16:18,380 --> 00:16:24,260 God gave the law in order that it might reveal man's predicament, that he's a sinner in 182 00:16:24,260 --> 00:16:30,460 need of a Savior and cannot save himself. 183 00:16:30,460 --> 00:16:36,500 The law demands righteousness of sinners, a righteousness that sinners cannot produce 184 00:16:36,500 --> 00:16:40,040 themselves. 185 00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:47,700 But the weakness of the law is that it could not provide for deliverance from its own condemnation. 186 00:16:47,700 --> 00:16:51,520 It could not provide pardon. 187 00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:58,740 It did provide types and shadows of the full redemption that was to come, but it never 188 00:16:58,740 --> 00:17:02,700 was able to bring about the reality of it. 189 00:17:02,700 --> 00:17:05,900 It wasn't designed for that. 190 00:17:05,900 --> 00:17:11,740 The solution to man's predicament is found in the grace and truth that were realized 191 00:17:11,740 --> 00:17:14,660 through Jesus Christ. 192 00:17:14,660 --> 00:17:20,620 For through Him we have the fullness of deliverance and pardon. 193 00:17:20,620 --> 00:17:31,180 He satisfied the righteous demands of the law when He died upon the cross of Calvary. 194 00:17:31,180 --> 00:17:36,260 There He made available to sinners who could not meet the righteous demands of the law 195 00:17:36,260 --> 00:17:46,740 His grace, so that by believing in Him, sinners might receive grace from God and be declared 196 00:17:46,740 --> 00:17:52,140 right with God by that act of faith. 197 00:17:52,140 --> 00:17:53,900 The law was given through Moses. 198 00:17:53,900 --> 00:18:00,020 He was the mediator of it, but grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 199 00:18:00,020 --> 00:18:07,220 If God dealt with us only by grace, it would be dishonest. 200 00:18:07,220 --> 00:18:12,940 If God dealt with us only by truth, it would be disastrous. 201 00:18:12,940 --> 00:18:22,860 But because God has dealt with us by grace and truth, it means deliverance for the sinner. 202 00:18:22,860 --> 00:18:28,820 A deliverance that you can enjoy and know today. 203 00:18:28,820 --> 00:18:34,220 That brings us to the third aspect of the work of the Word that He accomplished. 204 00:18:34,220 --> 00:18:38,220 He dispensed the fullness of grace. 205 00:18:38,220 --> 00:18:46,780 He displaced the law of Moses, bringing the fullness of grace and truth to us. 206 00:18:46,780 --> 00:18:54,340 And we notice in verse 18 that He disclosed the nature of deity. 207 00:18:54,340 --> 00:19:02,900 God is spirit, and therefore God is invisible to the physical perceptions of man. 208 00:19:02,900 --> 00:19:05,060 He cannot be seen with the eye. 209 00:19:05,060 --> 00:19:10,860 He cannot be tested in the science laboratory. 210 00:19:10,860 --> 00:19:16,420 God is immortal and invisible. 211 00:19:16,420 --> 00:19:24,580 And Paul writing to Timothy says one further thing. 212 00:19:24,580 --> 00:19:31,780 Speaking of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, he says, who alone possesses immortality 213 00:19:31,780 --> 00:19:36,260 and dwells in unapproachable light. 214 00:19:36,260 --> 00:19:39,060 That ought to take you in your mind back to Moses again. 215 00:19:39,060 --> 00:19:44,860 Where God said, Moses, you cannot see my face. 216 00:19:44,860 --> 00:19:51,020 God dwells in unapproachable light. 217 00:19:51,020 --> 00:19:56,100 He goes on to say, whom no man has seen nor can see. 218 00:19:56,100 --> 00:19:57,100 Why? 219 00:19:57,100 --> 00:20:00,820 Because God is spirit. 220 00:20:00,820 --> 00:20:07,580 The essence of deity has never been seen by man. 221 00:20:07,580 --> 00:20:13,220 Even God's friend, Moses, was able to see only his afterglow. 222 00:20:13,220 --> 00:20:21,860 Ah, someone says, but didn't Isaiah say, my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty? 223 00:20:21,860 --> 00:20:25,740 Yes, Isaiah did say that. 224 00:20:25,740 --> 00:20:30,340 But Isaiah did not see the essence of God. 225 00:20:30,340 --> 00:20:34,980 Isaiah saw what is called a theophany. 226 00:20:34,980 --> 00:20:39,100 That means an appearance of God. 227 00:20:39,100 --> 00:20:47,060 That is, God manifested himself in such a way that Isaiah was able to see him, but it 228 00:20:47,060 --> 00:20:51,380 wasn't the essence of God's glory that Isaiah saw. 229 00:20:51,380 --> 00:20:58,020 He saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. 230 00:20:58,020 --> 00:21:03,580 He says his train, that is his robe, filled the temple. 231 00:21:03,580 --> 00:21:05,620 That was an appearance of God. 232 00:21:05,620 --> 00:21:10,220 Ezekiel had a similar experience, though a different vision. 233 00:21:10,220 --> 00:21:16,940 Daniel, however, had a similar vision when in chapter 7 of his book he says that he saw 234 00:21:16,940 --> 00:21:29,060 the ancient of days, and he pictures the form of a human that was more than human, who was 235 00:21:29,060 --> 00:21:35,020 sitting upon a throne of great glory. 236 00:21:35,020 --> 00:21:42,620 In that vision, again, Daniel saw a theophany, a gracious appearance of God, but Daniel did 237 00:21:42,620 --> 00:21:47,580 not see the essence of the glory of God. 238 00:21:47,580 --> 00:21:55,780 A theophany was only a temporary thing, and it was visible to the human who saw it only 239 00:21:55,780 --> 00:22:06,820 to underscore revelation that was given, usually verbal revelation that God gave. 240 00:22:06,820 --> 00:22:16,460 God's nature, though it has never been seen in its essence, has been manifested to us 241 00:22:16,460 --> 00:22:23,900 permanently in the person of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. 242 00:22:23,900 --> 00:22:34,060 That which we cannot look at and live, that which is unapproachable to us in our humaneness, 243 00:22:34,060 --> 00:22:45,180 the essence of God has been explained to us in Jesus Christ. 244 00:22:45,180 --> 00:22:54,300 We might compare it to the ultraviolet or infrared rays of light. 245 00:22:54,300 --> 00:23:05,860 Our eyes are not sensitive to see light that is ultraviolet or infrared. 246 00:23:05,860 --> 00:23:11,220 How then are we able to know that it is beyond theory? 247 00:23:11,220 --> 00:23:13,580 How do we know that it exists? 248 00:23:13,580 --> 00:23:23,860 Well, because we do have such things as spectroscopes or photographic plates which are able to catch 249 00:23:23,860 --> 00:23:30,900 those rays of light and reveal them to us. 250 00:23:30,900 --> 00:23:42,100 Likewise, our eyes cannot see the glory of God, but the glory of God has been fully exposed 251 00:23:42,100 --> 00:23:48,060 to us in Jesus Christ. 252 00:23:48,060 --> 00:23:53,500 He is described in verse 18 as the only begotten God. 253 00:23:53,500 --> 00:23:59,780 Now there are some ancient manuscripts that also read the only begotten Son. 254 00:23:59,780 --> 00:24:05,740 It doesn't really affect the meaning of the verse, whichever reading that one accepts. 255 00:24:05,740 --> 00:24:12,540 The oldest of the manuscripts have the reading that's used in the version I have before me, 256 00:24:12,540 --> 00:24:14,700 the New American Standard. 257 00:24:14,700 --> 00:24:18,700 The only begotten God. 258 00:24:18,700 --> 00:24:23,620 This is a strong affirmation of the deity of Jesus Christ. 259 00:24:23,620 --> 00:24:29,780 For the one who is called the only begotten from the Father, the Word, in verse 14, and 260 00:24:29,780 --> 00:24:36,460 who is named in verse 17 as Jesus Christ, is the one who is called in verse 18 the only 261 00:24:36,460 --> 00:24:39,740 begotten God. 262 00:24:39,740 --> 00:24:44,580 I remind you that we said last week that begotten does not have anything to do with generation 263 00:24:44,580 --> 00:24:46,700 or the beginning of something. 264 00:24:46,700 --> 00:24:51,940 It's a word that describes the nature of something. 265 00:24:51,940 --> 00:25:00,420 It means that he is the unique expression of God, manifestation of God, the only begotten 266 00:25:00,420 --> 00:25:06,100 God who is in the bosom of the Father. 267 00:25:06,100 --> 00:25:11,060 That's an interesting expression that doesn't really relate well to our day, but it was 268 00:25:11,060 --> 00:25:15,380 very meaningful in the day in which John used these words. 269 00:25:15,380 --> 00:25:20,980 In fact, it's an expression that he uses of himself later in this same gospel when he 270 00:25:20,980 --> 00:25:28,920 describes his leaning upon Jesus' bosom at the Last Supper. 271 00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:34,500 He was the one next to Jesus in that reclining position as they would sit at one of their 272 00:25:34,500 --> 00:25:37,060 meals. 273 00:25:37,060 --> 00:25:43,660 It was a place of closest fellowship. 274 00:25:43,660 --> 00:25:49,300 It was the place of greatest intimacy and dearness. 275 00:25:49,300 --> 00:26:00,220 It says regarding Jesus that he is in the bosom of the Father. 276 00:26:00,220 --> 00:26:08,500 Notice it doesn't say he was, but he is, expressing the continuous aspect of this. 277 00:26:08,500 --> 00:26:14,060 That while he was on the earth and even now, he is in the bosom of the Father. 278 00:26:14,060 --> 00:26:20,700 That is, he is in the place of dearest affection to the Heavenly Father. 279 00:26:20,700 --> 00:26:24,580 It is an elaboration upon what John said earlier when he said in the beginning was the word 280 00:26:24,580 --> 00:26:28,700 and the word was with God. 281 00:26:28,700 --> 00:26:36,660 Now John says what I mean is he's in the place of deepest affection in the bosom of the Father. 282 00:26:36,660 --> 00:26:43,660 That's what it means to be with God, he says. 283 00:26:43,660 --> 00:26:53,760 Regarding this one who is the only begotten God, he says, he has explained God. 284 00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:58,220 We find here a word that is familiar to some people today. 285 00:26:58,220 --> 00:27:04,900 It's the word exegesis or the verb exegete. 286 00:27:04,900 --> 00:27:07,860 That's the Greek word explained. 287 00:27:07,860 --> 00:27:13,260 What I attempt to do as your pastor and as the teacher here in this church is to exegete 288 00:27:13,260 --> 00:27:15,380 the scriptures. 289 00:27:15,380 --> 00:27:21,620 That is to explain what they mean to us and to apply that then to our lives. 290 00:27:21,620 --> 00:27:28,740 That's exactly the thought here that the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the word coming 291 00:27:28,740 --> 00:27:34,700 into the world exegeted God. 292 00:27:34,700 --> 00:27:43,220 The God who as yet has never been seen by human eyes in his essence. 293 00:27:43,220 --> 00:27:53,740 John writes again in the first epistle that he pins, no man has seen God at any time. 294 00:27:53,740 --> 00:28:02,060 That was 60 years or so after the Lord Jesus had been with him and gone back to heaven. 295 00:28:02,060 --> 00:28:04,100 No man has seen God at any time. 296 00:28:04,100 --> 00:28:06,740 That is still true today. 297 00:28:06,740 --> 00:28:12,580 I think it's a question mark as to whether even in eternity to come, we the glorified 298 00:28:12,580 --> 00:28:21,020 saints of God will actually be able to look upon the essence of the glory of God. 299 00:28:21,020 --> 00:28:22,020 That's a question mark. 300 00:28:22,020 --> 00:28:26,260 It's debated back and forth. 301 00:28:26,260 --> 00:28:36,620 But though we have never looked upon him, we have received an explanation, a full accounting 302 00:28:36,620 --> 00:28:43,340 of what God is like in the person of Christ. 303 00:28:43,340 --> 00:28:52,820 The same word used to explain here is used in Luke and then again in the book of Acts 304 00:28:52,820 --> 00:29:02,640 written by Luke and it's translated, narrated. 305 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:10,540 Those disciples who were on the road to Emmaus, you remember, to whom the risen Lord appeared 306 00:29:10,540 --> 00:29:16,860 then went back to the city of Jerusalem after Jesus had gone away from them and narrated 307 00:29:16,860 --> 00:29:24,180 to them, exegeted to them what had happened on that road as they sat down to eat in their 308 00:29:24,180 --> 00:29:26,980 little house. 309 00:29:26,980 --> 00:29:34,020 So what it's saying here is that as Jesus came into the world in his life and in his 310 00:29:34,020 --> 00:29:42,720 teaching and in the miracles that he did, he narrated what God is like. 311 00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:50,620 He led God forth as it were in a way that we could perceive and understand. 312 00:29:50,620 --> 00:30:00,940 If God were to appear in this auditorium today in the essence of his nature, his being, we 313 00:30:00,940 --> 00:30:11,260 would not be able to comprehend him and besides that we wouldn't have long to try. 314 00:30:11,260 --> 00:30:16,340 Therefore when the Son came into the world, he brought God forth, he led him forth in 315 00:30:16,340 --> 00:30:23,100 such a manner that when we look at him, the Son, we can say in truth that we have seen 316 00:30:23,100 --> 00:30:31,660 God, that we've come to understand what God is like in his nature because of what 317 00:30:31,660 --> 00:30:35,540 Jesus said and what he did and how he lived. 318 00:30:35,540 --> 00:30:39,540 And so he accomplished his work. 319 00:30:39,540 --> 00:30:46,900 He dispensed the fullness of grace because of his cross death at Calvary. 320 00:30:46,900 --> 00:30:53,740 The floodgates of God's grace were opened and it pours forth from an endless reservoir. 321 00:30:53,740 --> 00:31:03,620 And you and I may come to that grace and receive of it grace upon grace upon grace. 322 00:31:03,620 --> 00:31:08,340 And apart from that grace we have no hope. 323 00:31:08,340 --> 00:31:10,260 So why delay? 324 00:31:10,260 --> 00:31:11,260 Why neglect? 325 00:31:11,260 --> 00:31:12,700 Why refuse it? 326 00:31:12,700 --> 00:31:14,920 It's free. 327 00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:24,980 One may come in the simplicity of faith and say, oh Jesus Christ, Son of God, I am a sinner 328 00:31:24,980 --> 00:31:32,580 and worthy but I receive you and I receive the grace of God for my sins. 329 00:31:32,580 --> 00:31:35,420 Give to me eternal life. 330 00:31:35,420 --> 00:31:40,420 That first wave of grace hits you and it's followed by another wave and another wave 331 00:31:40,420 --> 00:31:47,980 not to knock you down like the waves of the ocean but to lift you up and carry you along 332 00:31:47,980 --> 00:31:54,620 through life, grace upon grace. 333 00:31:54,620 --> 00:31:57,980 He has displaced the law of Moses. 334 00:31:57,980 --> 00:32:05,220 So no longer does the law condemn us who have come to Christ. 335 00:32:05,220 --> 00:32:10,820 The law no longer demands our death because our death has already been paid in what Jesus 336 00:32:10,820 --> 00:32:13,420 did at the cross. 337 00:32:13,420 --> 00:32:18,820 Now we have the fullness of grace and truth through Jesus. 338 00:32:18,820 --> 00:32:25,180 And also the word disclosed the nature of deity so that you and I can know what God 339 00:32:25,180 --> 00:32:26,680 is like. 340 00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:33,380 So that when God said to Moses, I will show you all my goodness, we know now that God 341 00:32:33,380 --> 00:32:39,700 was telling the truth because he is good. 342 00:32:39,700 --> 00:32:42,900 That doesn't mean that God doesn't become angry. 343 00:32:42,900 --> 00:32:48,900 The Bible says that God is angry with sinners every day. 344 00:32:48,900 --> 00:32:55,140 It doesn't mean that God doesn't hate because God hates sin. 345 00:32:55,140 --> 00:32:59,780 It doesn't mean that God won't condemn. 346 00:32:59,780 --> 00:33:06,860 He will condemn all of those who refuse the gift of salvation that he has provided. 347 00:33:06,860 --> 00:33:13,120 But even those things flow ultimately out of his goodness. 348 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:22,260 God is so good that in that new heaven and new earth that is coming, he wants only goodness 349 00:33:22,260 --> 00:33:23,860 to dwell. 350 00:33:23,860 --> 00:33:32,660 And those of us who have come to Christ and received him will be able to enjoy that goodness 351 00:33:32,660 --> 00:33:36,700 forever. 352 00:33:36,700 --> 00:33:38,580 What does all of this mean to us? 353 00:33:38,580 --> 00:33:46,080 Well let me say in the first place that it means you can know God yourself. 354 00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:51,120 You can know God in Jesus Christ. 355 00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:55,740 There is no legitimate agnostic. 356 00:33:55,740 --> 00:34:00,420 An agnostic is really a dishonest person. 357 00:34:00,420 --> 00:34:07,460 One cannot say that he is unable to know whether there is a God. 358 00:34:07,460 --> 00:34:11,180 It is honest to say I refuse God. 359 00:34:11,180 --> 00:34:16,500 It is honest to say I don't want to believe in God. 360 00:34:16,500 --> 00:34:21,080 But it is dishonest to say one cannot know God. 361 00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:23,940 Because God has made himself known. 362 00:34:23,940 --> 00:34:27,740 And you can know God as he really is. 363 00:34:27,740 --> 00:34:34,740 Not God as you have imagined him to be, or God as some teacher or some group has told 364 00:34:34,740 --> 00:34:39,080 you he is, but God as he really is. 365 00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:44,060 If you will study the life of Jesus Christ, you can know God. 366 00:34:44,060 --> 00:34:52,980 And you, you can draw upon his grace for forgiveness of your sins and deliverance from them. 367 00:34:52,980 --> 00:35:02,860 For whatever shortcoming or need you are experiencing in your life, you can draw upon his grace. 368 00:35:02,860 --> 00:35:10,220 And may I say in closing that you are responsible for doing both of those things. 369 00:35:10,220 --> 00:35:13,920 For knowing God and drawing upon his grace. 370 00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:22,220 Because God's revelation in his son leaves the sinner without excuse. 371 00:35:22,220 --> 00:35:30,960 God's gift of grace in his son, however, provides for sinners without exception. 372 00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:34,300 You may feel that you have gone too far. 373 00:35:34,300 --> 00:35:38,740 That there is no way that God could reach out or down to where you are. 374 00:35:38,740 --> 00:35:41,300 That there has been too much that has gone on in your life. 375 00:35:41,300 --> 00:35:44,060 Too much water under the bridge. 376 00:35:44,060 --> 00:35:46,280 You're beyond the realm of hope, my friend. 377 00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:49,860 That is a lie. 378 00:35:49,860 --> 00:35:55,160 You today, if you sense the wooing of God upon your heart can come to know him. 379 00:35:55,160 --> 00:36:01,180 You can draw upon the fullness of his grace. 380 00:36:01,180 --> 00:36:06,260 God's revelation in his son leaves you without excuse. 381 00:36:06,260 --> 00:36:12,060 But the gift of grace in his son provides for you without exception. 382 00:36:12,060 --> 00:36:16,780 Whosoever will may come and receive of that grace. 383 00:36:16,780 --> 00:36:20,660 And I invite you to do it today. 384 00:36:20,660 --> 00:36:28,300 Those of us who know Christ, we stand upon the doorway of a new year and a new decade. 385 00:36:28,300 --> 00:36:34,420 What a special opportunity God has given to us to walk into the future that we cannot 386 00:36:34,420 --> 00:36:41,580 see or know, but with our hand firmly planted in the hand of God. 387 00:36:41,580 --> 00:36:47,500 The God who has revealed himself in the coming of the word and who has made it possible for 388 00:36:47,500 --> 00:36:55,780 us not only to know him, but also to walk with him and to experience the fullness of 389 00:36:55,780 --> 00:36:58,940 all of his gifts for us. 390 00:36:58,940 --> 00:37:01,820 What a special privilege that is. 391 00:37:01,820 --> 00:37:06,180 If we would do that, then we must yield our all to him. 392 00:37:06,180 --> 00:37:11,820 We must be sure that as we come into this new year, we can honestly say, oh Lord, I 393 00:37:11,820 --> 00:37:17,640 have walked with you in the past and known your blessing. 394 00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:22,700 And now as I take a step into the new decade by your grace, I desire to renew that walk 395 00:37:22,700 --> 00:37:29,700 with you and to give you all that I am and to take your hand firmly in mind and to draw 396 00:37:29,700 --> 00:37:34,020 upon that grace that you've made available. 397 00:37:34,020 --> 00:37:35,660 What a privilege God has given to us. 398 00:37:35,660 --> 00:37:43,340 May none of us lose it, but take of it and enter into the fullness of it. 399 00:37:43,340 --> 00:37:44,340 Let's pray. 400 00:37:44,340 --> 00:37:49,260 There's a little chorus that we've sung in months past. 401 00:37:49,260 --> 00:37:52,740 I think many of you know it and others of you can pick it up easily. 402 00:37:52,740 --> 00:37:56,940 It simply says, Christ is all I need. 403 00:37:56,940 --> 00:38:02,140 Christ is all I need. 404 00:38:02,140 --> 00:38:08,260 Christ is all I need. 405 00:38:08,260 --> 00:38:15,220 All I need. 406 00:38:15,220 --> 00:38:20,860 Christ is all I need. 407 00:38:20,860 --> 00:38:27,260 Christ is all I need. 408 00:38:27,260 --> 00:38:38,540 All I need. 409 00:38:38,540 --> 00:38:44,820 Lord I pray that we will understand the meaning of what we've just sung. 410 00:38:44,820 --> 00:38:53,540 That as we enter into a new year in a few hours, we will not be drawing upon our own 411 00:38:53,540 --> 00:38:57,820 bankrupt accounts. 412 00:38:57,820 --> 00:39:07,220 We will be drawing upon the fullness of the grace that you have brought in your coming. 413 00:39:07,220 --> 00:39:18,020 May that grace purge and cleanse our lives, make us a holy people, an obedient people, 414 00:39:18,020 --> 00:39:26,500 so that we might experience the lifting power of the waves of the grace that flow by us 415 00:39:26,500 --> 00:39:30,620 in your kindness. 416 00:39:30,620 --> 00:39:34,420 Thank you for coming, Lord Jesus. 417 00:39:34,420 --> 00:39:36,380 Thank you for coming. 418 00:39:36,380 --> 00:39:42,500 Thank you for accomplishing your blessed work that we might be saved. 419 00:39:42,500 --> 00:39:50,940 And then walk through life with you and one day enter into your glorious presence. 420 00:39:50,940 --> 00:40:06,580 Amen.