WEBVTT 00:00:00.840 --> 00:00:02.640 I'm going to invite you to the Gospel of John. 00:00:03.840 --> 00:00:04.900 We are going to be in the Gospel of John together. 00:00:05.520 --> 00:00:08.260 We're in chapter one, we're looking at the Gospel of John. 00:00:08.260 --> 00:00:15.420 We're going to go through the Gospel of John together, but we're initially just going a little, we're going a little slower in the beginning of John, because this is Christmas 00:00:15.420 --> 00:00:16.020 season. 00:00:16.560 --> 00:00:20.690 And this deals with the identity of Jesus, which is paramount to the Christian faith. 00:00:21.700 --> 00:00:28.820 When you think about the Christmas story, and most often people like to turn to the Gospel of Matthew or the Gospel of Luke, because those gospels deals with 00:00:28.820 --> 00:00:31.840 the particularities of the story of what happened with Jesus. 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:34.320 And that's important to understand what happened in the story. 00:00:34.340 --> 00:00:36.460 We just sing a song right before... 00:00:36.520 --> 00:00:41.060 Well, all of our songs were Christmas songs this morning, about the significance of this event. 00:00:41.560 --> 00:00:46.960 Now I will say for Christianity, everything that rests from Christianity has to do with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. 00:00:47.540 --> 00:00:54.820 Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, if Jesus isn't risen from the grave, we are to be most pitied out of all people, because we have our faith 00:00:54.820 --> 00:00:56.100 in a resurrected Messiah. 00:00:56.120 --> 00:00:59.540 So if that didn't take place, our faith is useless. 00:00:59.960 --> 00:01:03.040 But you don't have the death of Jesus without the birth of Jesus. 00:01:03.100 --> 00:01:07.160 And that's what makes this so significant is that God would become flesh for us. 00:01:07.940 --> 00:01:15.220 And when you turn to the Gospel of John, what makes John so unique is John isn't talking so much about what happened as it relates to the Christmas story 00:01:15.220 --> 00:01:17.300 of Jesus, but why it matters. 00:01:18.120 --> 00:01:20.760 Why is this important for our lives? 00:01:20.780 --> 00:01:24.330 People can be entertained by what you do. 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:28.520 I know today I'll probably check out some football game at some point. 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:36.300 And watch the genius of athleticism, like we're enamored by things that are glorious, that maybe you like the beauty of the mountains and going up 00:01:36.300 --> 00:01:38.120 to see that. 00:01:38.160 --> 00:01:42.450 But we're attracted to things that are genius, that are beauty, that seem other. 00:01:42.920 --> 00:01:47.600 People can be entertained by what you do, but people are compelled by why you do it. 00:01:48.180 --> 00:01:53.260 So you can be entertained for a little while when you watch Jesus's ministry, you see people like that. 00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:58.030 When Jesus would show up, it was sort of like the circus came to town and they would want Jesus to perform a miracle. 00:01:58.080 --> 00:01:59.690 What Jesus did to them was amazing. 00:02:00.100 --> 00:02:03.440 But then there are some that joined in the mission that Christ called them on. 00:02:03.700 --> 00:02:06.580 And the reason it wasn't because of the what, it was because of the why. 00:02:06.880 --> 00:02:11.540 They found a place for them to join into what God was doing as Jesus invited people in. 00:02:11.960 --> 00:02:15.680 So the why becomes the pinnacle to everything that takes place. 00:02:15.800 --> 00:02:22.980 Now, I'll say with John, he routes the why, the why of the calling of that we have in Jesus, in the who of Jesus is. 00:02:22.980 --> 00:02:26.920 Everything is built on the foundation of Jesus's identity. 00:02:27.240 --> 00:02:33.380 And so when you turn to the Gospel of John, the first 18 verses, this is considered the prologue to the Gospel of John. 00:02:33.420 --> 00:02:40.920 Meaning John from here is going to share these narrative stories of the significance of who Christ is by what Jesus does. 00:02:40.940 --> 00:02:47.960 But before he starts to give us the details as to what Jesus does, he wants us to understand why this matters and who he is. 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:55.300 And so these first 18 verses are these power packed trues that are spoken about the significance of 00:02:55.300 --> 00:02:55.760 Christ. 00:02:55.800 --> 00:02:59.580 And we looked at this together last week, we went through verses one to 12. 00:02:59.600 --> 00:03:00.600 We skipped verse six to eight. 00:03:00.680 --> 00:03:01.370 I'm going to hit it today. 00:03:02.220 --> 00:03:05.740 But we talked about the significance of Jesus in this prologue of John. 00:03:05.780 --> 00:03:12.860 And today I'm going to hit the conclusion of 1:1-18, as we consider in our minds 00:03:12.860 --> 00:03:16.580 who this Christ is and why it matters for our lives. 00:03:16.900 --> 00:03:19.740 And I'm really going to fixate on verse 14. 00:03:19.740 --> 00:03:22.060 Verse 14 is going to kind of lay this foundation for us. 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:26.900 And we're going to use the surrounding verses to really unpack what verse 14 says. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:28.640 So let's look at this together. 00:03:29.140 --> 00:03:36.420 I think the pinnacle verse of this prologue is found in verse 14 and he says this, "And the word became 00:03:36.420 --> 00:03:39.300 flesh and dwelt among us. 00:03:40.320 --> 00:03:41.560 And we saw his glory. 00:03:41.580 --> 00:03:45.900 The glory is of the only begotten from the father full of grace and truth. 00:03:47.140 --> 00:03:51.000 The word became flesh." This is how I'm going to break this down for us. 00:03:51.060 --> 00:03:58.220 Every time you see an end in chapter 14, we're going to stop and talk about, "The word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory." 00:03:58.340 --> 00:04:03.620 We're going to look at these three phrases together of the significance of Jesus, but the word became flesh. 00:04:04.100 --> 00:04:05.200 What does that mean for us? 00:04:05.220 --> 00:04:08.300 Well, we talked about the idea of word last week. 00:04:08.360 --> 00:04:10.420 We said, okay, so what does this word mean? 00:04:10.780 --> 00:04:12.140 John is introducing Jesus. 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:14.190 This is how he begins the Gospel of John. 00:04:14.620 --> 00:04:16.019 In the beginning was the word. 00:04:16.380 --> 00:04:21.700 You got to think when you're writing a story about someone, a few things that are important right off the bat, what is their name? 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:23.100 And when were they born? 00:04:23.740 --> 00:04:28.180 And John says, in the beginning of John, he says in the beginning was the word. 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:35.560 And when you're going to introduce Jesus to this world, what would you even say? 00:04:35.580 --> 00:04:42.500 The responsibility of that, how could you even begin to put pen to paper, to express the significance of who Jesus is? 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:45.830 I know probably what I would do, I would say, "This is Jesus. 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:47.420 He's got a name. 00:04:47.420 --> 00:04:48.320 His name is Jesus. 00:04:48.320 --> 00:04:52.920 You should probably know that." But rather than do that, John says in the beginning was the word. 00:04:52.920 --> 00:04:55.140 And then in verse 14 and the word became flesh. 00:04:55.480 --> 00:05:00.440 He chooses this particular identity for Jesus that is unique. 00:05:00.640 --> 00:05:07.680 But what John is doing is very important because he chooses this word word as a way 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:12.180 to invite the world, to partake of everything that Jesus is. 00:05:12.220 --> 00:05:14.400 To understand the why and the who. 00:05:15.380 --> 00:05:22.740 Because in John's day, this word word had a significant meaning among religious 00:05:22.860 --> 00:05:25.540 ways of thinking and philosophy throughout the world. 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:33.240 Greek culture had shaped this idea around this topic of word as being the beginning or the force 00:05:33.240 --> 00:05:34.480 behind everything. 00:05:35.450 --> 00:05:40.110 Philosophers would debate as they looked at the world, they would say this world sort of, it has this order. 00:05:40.280 --> 00:05:46.120 And it seems to have this meaning driven behind it and the way they express that was through this idea of word. 00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:54.070 And when John is saying, the word became flesh, it's this invitation to understand that what they're seeking after isn't some ideal, 00:05:54.520 --> 00:05:58.260 some idea, it's this person, it's Jesus. 00:05:59.140 --> 00:06:01.240 He unites everything in him. 00:06:01.240 --> 00:06:06.180 He gives purpose to everything behind him because he is, we saw last week is the creator of all of it. 00:06:07.800 --> 00:06:11.580 And this word has become flesh. 00:06:13.420 --> 00:06:14.900 It's become personal. 00:06:16.760 --> 00:06:22.540 I'm trying to think in what way could we relate to this in our modern times, the word becomes flesh? 00:06:22.580 --> 00:06:29.700 About the greatest illustration that I can think of is you might be familiar with Stan Lee, not Stan Lee, but Stan Lee the 00:06:29.700 --> 00:06:34.780 comic guy who came up with all the Marvel characters that created the Marvel movies. 00:06:35.060 --> 00:06:41.920 If you watch any of the Marvel movies, Stan Lee made it a point to create himself within the movies. 00:06:42.020 --> 00:06:43.560 He became a character in his own movies. 00:06:43.580 --> 00:06:50.600 At some point, if you're ever watching the Marvel movies, you'll see Stan Lee will have some sort of insignificant role, but he appears in 00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:57.720 his movies of his comic book characters, it's like creator becomes a part of his creation, And this is 00:06:57.720 --> 00:07:01.420 the way we consider Jesus, except for much more than just Stan Lee. 00:07:01.420 --> 00:07:04.850 No way am I saying Stan Lee and Jesus are the same here. 00:07:04.860 --> 00:07:11.020 But what I'm saying is Stan Lee where he falls short is he becomes an active part. 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:12.680 He's not that role. 00:07:12.700 --> 00:07:14.470 He just acts a certain role in his movies. 00:07:14.980 --> 00:07:17.860 Jesus actually becomes a part of his creation. 00:07:18.260 --> 00:07:20.200 Creator becomes creature. 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:22.340 Jesus takes on flesh. 00:07:22.500 --> 00:07:25.780 And the significance of this is that the God had not done this. 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:31.660 In the tri unity of God, it tells us in John 4:24, that God is spirit. 00:07:31.960 --> 00:07:38.160 And Luke 24:39, the spirit has no flesh and bones, but Jesus becomes a part of his creation. 00:07:38.620 --> 00:07:42.480 And now for eternity, he will wrap himself in flesh. 00:07:44.640 --> 00:07:49.480 Creator, joins his creation by becoming flesh. 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:50.200 And what does that mean? 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:53.780 He becomes personal. 00:07:55.620 --> 00:07:57.120 He becomes vulnerable. 00:07:58.840 --> 00:08:00.120 He becomes killable. 00:08:03.520 --> 00:08:05.470 Jesus relates to us. 00:08:07.540 --> 00:08:11.380 Have you ever been without in your life, homeless? 00:08:12.620 --> 00:08:12.900 So is he. 00:08:14.660 --> 00:08:16.470 Have you ever been falsely accused? 00:08:16.760 --> 00:08:17.200 So is he. 00:08:18.940 --> 00:08:21.920 Have you ever been mocked or betrayed by friends? 00:08:21.980 --> 00:08:22.480 So is he. 00:08:24.040 --> 00:08:27.060 Have you ever been beaten or abandoned or felt alone? 00:08:29.800 --> 00:08:30.200 So is he. 00:08:34.020 --> 00:08:39.059 Jesus relates to us by becoming like us. 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:47.600 Sometimes I meet people that argue that God can't exist because there's evil in this world. 00:08:49.300 --> 00:08:53.300 And when people sometimes they'll look at the struggle of life and reach that conclusion. 00:08:53.460 --> 00:08:55.800 But I usually press into that a little bit. 00:08:55.900 --> 00:09:03.100 I understand that I think communicating through things like that they might feel isolated or alone, or maybe feel hopeless 00:09:03.100 --> 00:09:04.250 in certain circumstances. 00:09:06.020 --> 00:09:13.600 But I press into that to just ask people look, apart from God, how do you even have a concept of good 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:14.220 and evil? 00:09:15.320 --> 00:09:22.880 Unless there's this moral law giver who gives purpose to life and gives us all this moral [inaudible 00:09:20] by which we should live by, then 00:09:22.880 --> 00:09:29.260 the only other alternative that you have is this world is made by randomness and there really is no ultimate meaning. 00:09:29.280 --> 00:09:35.440 And so there can't be an ultimate [inaudible 00:09:31] or moral, good or evil among us because we simply just evolve to where we are. 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:36.000 It makes no sense. 00:09:38.390 --> 00:09:45.700 But not only that, to assume there is no God because of evil 00:09:45.700 --> 00:09:52.540 in this world is to alienate yourself from the very God who became flesh to deliver his goodness to you. 00:09:55.580 --> 00:09:58.080 What I'm saying is God completely understands. 00:10:00.100 --> 00:10:02.560 And your frustration with evil, isn't contrary to him. 00:10:04.440 --> 00:10:06.090 It's in line with him. 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:09.780 That's why Jesus became flesh. 00:10:12.640 --> 00:10:19.160 Jesus came to defeat the evil of this world and give us an opportunity to turn to him as our King. 00:10:19.180 --> 00:10:22.520 That's why John says in the beginning that the light pierced the darkness. 00:10:24.600 --> 00:10:31.700 Now the reality is, and the truth is I can't tell you why every bad thing that has happened to you has happened 00:10:31.700 --> 00:10:32.160 to you. 00:10:32.160 --> 00:10:32.820 One day God will. 00:10:35.560 --> 00:10:37.840 But I can tell you what it can't mean. 00:10:39.660 --> 00:10:41.660 And it can't mean that God doesn't care. 00:10:44.100 --> 00:10:51.300 Because the very nature of what's being expressed in John one is to demonstrate a God that is concerned for your soul to the point 00:10:51.300 --> 00:10:53.760 that he would become as creature. 00:10:56.500 --> 00:10:57.860 And the word became flesh. 00:10:58.380 --> 00:11:05.500 And John goes on and he says this in verse 14, "And he dwelt among you." When I 00:11:05.500 --> 00:11:12.620 think about John's word choice here, I just commend John for what happens in 00:11:12.620 --> 00:11:19.860 how he expresses the image of Jesus and trying to encapsulate the significance of Christ in 00:11:19.860 --> 00:11:27.200 our lives and the way he chooses now in verse 14 to say, "And he dwelt among us." 00:11:27.340 --> 00:11:34.740 John is using really just rich language to try to encapsulate in our minds the significance of this Jesus, 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:38.500 by the way he chooses to express Christ in this way that he dwelt among us. 00:11:38.500 --> 00:11:42.980 Because the, what he's saying about Jesus isn't that Jesus just kind of showed up and here he is. 00:11:42.980 --> 00:11:50.400 What he's saying is he's choosing particular words that tap all the way back into the old Testament to give this illustration 00:11:50.400 --> 00:11:52.760 of the significance of Christ's arrival. 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:56.520 This word dwelt literally means tabernacled. 00:11:58.700 --> 00:12:01.160 It's this idea of temple. 00:12:03.940 --> 00:12:08.740 And to the Jewish mind, the temple of God was where the presence of God was made known. 00:12:09.800 --> 00:12:16.270 I think in Israel's day, if you want to experience God as close as you can, it was to go to this temple and worship. 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:23.660 But even at the temple, you couldn't experience the greatness of his glory because it was wrapped within this building 00:12:23.660 --> 00:12:28.600 that no one could draw near to the room that contained God's presence. 00:12:30.330 --> 00:12:34.600 Or at least most people other than the high priest who was only allowed into the room once a year. 00:12:38.200 --> 00:12:43.110 And now God's presence is among his people. 00:12:45.410 --> 00:12:52.460 I think what John is doing here is not only is he tying it to the idea of temple, but he's also relating it all the way back to the 00:12:52.620 --> 00:12:54.460 time of Moses in the book of Exodus. 00:12:54.580 --> 00:12:56.210 In fact, he quotes from Exodus in a minute. 00:12:56.680 --> 00:13:03.740 But in Exodus, chapter 33 at the very end of the chapter, Moses says to God, "God, show me your glory." That's what 00:13:03.740 --> 00:13:12.300 he says in verse 17 is like, "God, show me your glory." In Exodus 33:20, 00:13:12.360 --> 00:13:19.400 God says to Moses, "No one may look upon my glory and live." This is where 00:13:19.400 --> 00:13:26.480 he gives the story to Moses, where he says, "Moses, turn your back to me into the cleft of the rock and I'll place 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:28.060 my hand against you. 00:13:28.100 --> 00:13:34.280 And when I pass by, you can see." What the Hebrew says is the trail of my robe or the train of my robe. 00:13:34.780 --> 00:13:38.990 And what it literally means is the presence of God as it has departed. 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:48.360 Meaning even Moses couldn't gaze directly at the glory of God made known to the point that he had to hide himself in 00:13:48.360 --> 00:13:53.880 that best what he saw was the glory of God, that is the trail of God as God's presence left Moses. 00:13:56.220 --> 00:13:59.240 And even at that, the Bible tells us that Moses's face glowed. 00:14:01.340 --> 00:14:08.380 And here, what John is saying is remember back in the Old Testament where they had the temple and they only had ever had one simple, and 00:14:08.380 --> 00:14:09.920 it was only just a couple of rooms. 00:14:10.140 --> 00:14:13.660 And in one room you couldn't even go in and, but God's glory was there. 00:14:13.700 --> 00:14:20.760 And that was as close as you could get to God's glory and Moses at one point prayed to see God's glory and not even Moses could see the 00:14:20.760 --> 00:14:25.220 glory of God, but rather he saw the trail of God's glory as it departed from him. 00:14:25.320 --> 00:14:26.700 And that's as close as he got. 00:14:29.980 --> 00:14:36.480 God's become flesh and he's dwelt among you. 00:14:39.660 --> 00:14:45.080 Verse 18 just reminds us of the importance of this idea of seeing God. 00:14:45.080 --> 00:14:47.530 It says, "If no one has seen God at any time. 00:14:47.960 --> 00:14:55.210 God, the only son who is in the arms of the father, he has explained him." What he's saying is he is literally the exposition. 00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:59.660 He's God in the flesh being demonstrated to you. 00:14:59.740 --> 00:15:02.300 If you want to know what God, the father is like, look to Jesus. 00:15:02.740 --> 00:15:09.840 That's what Jesus says in John 14:9, "He who has seen me, has seen the father." He is the glory of 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:12.540 God made known in this world. 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:19.600 1 Timothy 6:16 says that no one has seen God or ever will see God. 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:25.480 But Jesus has become God in the flesh. 00:15:27.620 --> 00:15:31.560 Now the objection to this will be well, how do you really know that Jesus has done it? 00:15:31.560 --> 00:15:38.600 Because Jews would say, "Well, we remember the promises of the old Testament." If you read the Old Testament and you get to the very end of the Old Testament, you get 00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:39.220 to the book of Malakai. 00:15:39.620 --> 00:15:46.740 And until the last chapter says to us that before Jesus comes, prophet Elijah will come 00:15:46.740 --> 00:15:48.840 and proclaim the arrival of Jesus. 00:15:49.140 --> 00:15:56.300 And John 1:6, in order to answer that objection, it says to us that, "A man came one sent from 00:15:56.300 --> 00:16:03.340 God and his name was John." Verse seven, "He came as a witness to testify about the light so that all might believe through him, 00:16:03.680 --> 00:16:07.980 he was not the light, but he came to testify of this light. 00:16:10.350 --> 00:16:17.500 That the forerunner to the Messiah has come." What does this mean 00:16:17.500 --> 00:16:18.060 for us? 00:16:22.540 --> 00:16:24.400 What does this mean for us? 00:16:27.340 --> 00:16:34.340 When I think about the significance of what John's saying here, religious people had a 00:16:34.340 --> 00:16:35.750 hard time with this. 00:16:36.440 --> 00:16:42.140 I would say religious people have a hard time with this and religious people had a hard time with this. 00:16:43.240 --> 00:16:44.040 And how do I know that? 00:16:45.640 --> 00:16:46.780 Just read the pages of John. 00:16:48.940 --> 00:16:55.940 The people most likely to object to everything that's communicated about Jesus, it's 00:16:55.960 --> 00:16:56.540 the religious people. 00:16:59.240 --> 00:17:03.000 They couldn't embrace who Jesus said he was. 00:17:04.260 --> 00:17:11.319 In fact, when you study church history in the first few centuries, the heretics that arose out of Christianity or responded to 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:18.900 Christianity, the thing, the primary thing that they attacked, whether it was primary or as directly or indirectly, 00:17:18.900 --> 00:17:19.940 it was the identity of Jesus. 00:17:22.300 --> 00:17:23.859 That's what they went after, the identity of Jesus. 00:17:27.040 --> 00:17:32.030 Religious people have a hard time with the sufficiency of Christ. 00:17:34.080 --> 00:17:41.100 The reason for that is religious people look towards this performance within themselves to validate their worth before God. 00:17:43.280 --> 00:17:44.120 Jesus isn't enough. 00:17:45.800 --> 00:17:50.860 Or religious people will approach Christians and say, where is your temple? 00:17:53.520 --> 00:17:58.840 You see what John is saying in John chapter one, that Jesus is the temple. 00:17:58.840 --> 00:18:07.000 In fact, when you get to chapter two of John, Jesus makes that very argument in chapter two, he says, "Destroy this temple in three days, I will rebuild it." Or 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:14.180 religious people will come and say, "Where is your priest?" And the book of Hebrews, it says of Jesus and chapter four 00:18:14.180 --> 00:18:16.360 verses 14 to 16, that he is our high priest. 00:18:18.100 --> 00:18:21.700 Or people will come and say, "Where's your prophet?" Hebrews chapter one verses one and two. 00:18:21.700 --> 00:18:22.940 Jesus is your prophet. 00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:29.260 Religious people will come and say, where's the law to obey in order to prove your worth to God? 00:18:29.300 --> 00:18:35.080 In which Jesus says Matthew 5:17, "I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill the law. 00:18:35.120 --> 00:18:39.080 Jesus is the fulfillment of the law." Hebrews 8:13. 00:18:39.080 --> 00:18:40.380 He obliterates the law. 00:18:43.740 --> 00:18:44.320 Where is your sacrifice? 00:18:46.980 --> 00:18:47.260 It's Jesus. 00:18:50.440 --> 00:18:53.820 It's the sufficiency of Jesus in all things. 00:18:56.840 --> 00:19:00.490 What John is saying, the solution for our lives is that we don't get a religion. 00:19:00.900 --> 00:19:02.690 What we get is a person. 00:19:05.400 --> 00:19:12.500 In John 1:14 then it says this, "And we beheld his 00:19:12.500 --> 00:19:12.840 glory. 00:19:16.340 --> 00:19:23.420 We beheld his glory." It's as if to say, look, pause right here and 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:26.920 just think of the significance of what this is. 00:19:29.500 --> 00:19:33.740 God has become flesh for you. 00:19:35.380 --> 00:19:38.220 You have opportunity to behold his glory. 00:19:40.420 --> 00:19:43.420 This idea, this word for glory carries this idea of weightiness. 00:19:44.780 --> 00:19:46.380 It's really the basis for C. 00:19:46.480 --> 00:19:46.620 S. 00:19:46.620 --> 00:19:53.940 Lewis's book, where he titles one of his books The Weight of Glory, the magnitude of 00:19:53.940 --> 00:19:57.140 Christ, how spectacular is this glory? 00:19:57.140 --> 00:19:59.610 We love things that are glorious. 00:20:00.760 --> 00:20:01.740 They captivate us. 00:20:03.860 --> 00:20:07.000 Sometimes to the point that they become our idols. 00:20:07.100 --> 00:20:12.560 We think that that's the all to end all, but not recognizing that there is a creator behind it all. 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:21.060 And if there are things in this life that we recognize as glorious, how much more, the one who made it? 00:20:23.220 --> 00:20:27.380 And the one who becomes flesh so that we can experience him. 00:20:27.380 --> 00:20:34.000 See, what John is saying is when we say this phrase, we beheld his glory, it's for us to stop and answer within our souls. 00:20:34.320 --> 00:20:36.540 Who is this Jesus, who are you? 00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:37.740 Who are you to me? 00:20:38.100 --> 00:20:39.280 Why should it matter? 00:20:39.580 --> 00:20:44.180 And John goes a little bit further as if to pepper that thought of we beheld his glory. 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:48.260 And he says it like this, the glory, as of the only of be gotten of the father. 00:20:51.420 --> 00:20:54.450 This phrase, only begotten is an important phrase to think of. 00:20:54.840 --> 00:21:01.880 I think sometimes people come to this, the only begotten son, sometimes we come to this phrase and we misconstrue the meaning 00:21:01.880 --> 00:21:03.560 of what's intended here. 00:21:06.220 --> 00:21:13.680 We take this term son, and we try to apply it as if it literally fits in how we experience father and child relationship 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:14.640 in this world. 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:17.560 But what John is doing is he's identifying the uniqueness here. 00:21:17.580 --> 00:21:18.480 The only son. 00:21:18.500 --> 00:21:21.600 If you have the King James, it says the only begotten son. 00:21:21.800 --> 00:21:27.080 So what it's saying about Jesus is whatever he is, he is the only one that is like this. 00:21:27.120 --> 00:21:34.540 The Hebrew, or excuse me, the Greek word in this passage is monoganace which literally mono is one, ganace 00:21:34.540 --> 00:21:38.080 where you get this idea for in English, for genetics or genes. 00:21:38.360 --> 00:21:41.220 This monoganace, he's the only one like this. 00:21:41.220 --> 00:21:43.860 He is unique in this sense. 00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:51.000 His identity is not to be compared in any other way to any other human being in the flesh because Jesus 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:59.500 is while 100% man, is 100% God. 00:21:59.980 --> 00:22:05.340 What he's saying is Jesus is of the same kind or class as the father. 00:22:07.020 --> 00:22:14.200 That's why when Jesus says he who has seen me has seen the father, Jesus can make a statement like that because what is enwrapped 00:22:14.200 --> 00:22:21.580 in Jesus is 100% God just as the father is 100% God. 00:22:23.640 --> 00:22:28.760 John 18, it goes on and it says to us in relationship to that, no one has seen God at any time. 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:33.440 God, the only son who is in the arms of the father, he has explained him. 00:22:33.460 --> 00:22:38.200 He is the exposition of the direct report of everything that Jesus is. 00:22:38.300 --> 00:22:40.580 That's why Colossians 2:9 says. 00:22:40.580 --> 00:22:47.620 "In him, the fullness of God is in bodily form." So we talk in terms of 00:22:47.620 --> 00:22:50.420 Jesus being in sonship to the father. 00:22:51.020 --> 00:22:56.640 It's not to say that God, the father had a physical son or birthed a physical son. 00:22:56.980 --> 00:23:04.060 But what it's trying to correlate for us in our mind is that the nature of God is in Jesus just as 100% God is the 00:23:04.060 --> 00:23:04.800 father. 00:23:04.800 --> 00:23:07.300 100% God is the sun. 00:23:08.900 --> 00:23:14.000 This idea of sun in scripture isn't just used for physically birthing sons. 00:23:15.120 --> 00:23:20.280 I think within the Bible in Mark chapter three, I think it's in verse 17. 00:23:20.280 --> 00:23:22.700 James and John are referred to as the sons of thunder. 00:23:24.180 --> 00:23:26.690 Judas is referred to as the son of perdition. 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:31.600 Or in the book of Acts Barnabas is referred to as the son of encouragement. 00:23:32.900 --> 00:23:40.100 It's not to say hell, thunder and encouragement had kids, but they reflect the nature of 00:23:40.100 --> 00:23:42.380 what those phrases entail. 00:23:45.080 --> 00:23:49.420 And Jesus reflects the nature of the father because Jesus is God. 00:23:51.280 --> 00:23:52.500 And then he makes this statement. 00:23:53.720 --> 00:24:01.080 We beheld his glory, glory is the only begotten of the father full of grace 00:24:01.820 --> 00:24:02.040 and truth. 00:24:04.980 --> 00:24:12.040 Jesus is the supreme revelation of God in the most intimate of ways, radiating his glory full of grace and truth. 00:24:14.300 --> 00:24:21.080 And this is where John in the most specific of ways now ties the story all the way back to Exodus 33 with Moses. 00:24:22.840 --> 00:24:24.460 Moses was like, "God, show me your glory. 00:24:26.760 --> 00:24:34.780 Show me your glory." And God says, "No." Or at least he says, "Not fully yet." Rather 00:24:34.780 --> 00:24:42.080 there's coming a day when I will take on flesh and 00:24:42.120 --> 00:24:43.220 the world may know me. 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:46.200 Right now. 00:24:47.860 --> 00:24:48.460 Right now. 00:24:50.420 --> 00:24:52.350 You can know him. 00:24:53.420 --> 00:25:00.480 And the reason I say that this passage is now fully involving the story that's found in Exodus is because if you turn to Exodus 00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:07.560 34, what you see in the story in verse six, it comes to 00:25:07.560 --> 00:25:11.340 the point where the Lord passes in front of Moses and look how it describes it. 00:25:11.340 --> 00:25:19.120 It says the Lord passed by in front of him, Moses and proclaim, the Lord, God. 00:25:19.120 --> 00:25:26.140 Listen to this, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding 00:25:26.140 --> 00:25:32.920 in loving kindness and truth gracious abounding in truth. 00:25:34.980 --> 00:25:42.000 And when John thinks about the glory of God made known for us, he ties this all the way back to the story of Moses 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:45.160 and Israel would be thinking about this moment. 00:25:45.240 --> 00:25:52.360 This is the moment where Moses went up on the mountain and in chapter 34, he got the 10 commandments for the second time from God, because he broke 00:25:52.360 --> 00:25:53.330 the first ones. 00:25:53.780 --> 00:25:58.820 And God's presence passes by him in a cloud that he didn't even see the full glory of God. 00:25:58.840 --> 00:26:02.420 But when Moses comes back down from the mountain, his face is radiating. 00:26:02.420 --> 00:26:05.660 It's glowing from the glory of God's presence made known in his life. 00:26:06.040 --> 00:26:11.760 And it was just a fraction of what John says here. 00:26:15.320 --> 00:26:20.000 And we beheld his glory full of grace and truth. 00:26:22.760 --> 00:26:30.180 Full of grace and truth and it's from this that the understanding of who Jesus is that when you read verse 15, 00:26:30.280 --> 00:26:37.560 you see why John here, John the Baptist, John the Baptist becomes so enamored with proclaiming who Jesus 00:26:37.560 --> 00:26:38.520 is to us. 00:26:38.820 --> 00:26:44.000 You can be entertained by the what, but it's the why driven by the who. 00:26:44.620 --> 00:26:46.000 Why should we care? 00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:46.820 And who is this? 00:26:46.820 --> 00:26:54.000 And when John the Baptist gathers this identity, the significance of Jesus, it tells us in verse 15, John testified about 00:26:54.000 --> 00:27:01.180 him and called out saying, "This was he of whom I said, he who is coming after me has proved to be my superior because 00:27:01.180 --> 00:27:04.700 he has existed before me." Meaning he's in the flesh now, but he's eternal. 00:27:05.620 --> 00:27:08.420 That's what makes him so incredible for of his fullness. 00:27:08.420 --> 00:27:12.020 We have all received grace upon grace. 00:27:13.380 --> 00:27:14.420 Full of grace and truth. 00:27:16.040 --> 00:27:16.700 Grace upon grace. 00:27:18.580 --> 00:27:25.400 This idea of grace is to welcome you in this idea of truth is to fill you up. 00:27:27.340 --> 00:27:29.980 He describes in verse 16 is his grace upon grace. 00:27:30.020 --> 00:27:34.760 Meaning who's welcome before the presence of this God? 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:39.760 Because when you think in the Old Testament, well, Moses was fortunate. 00:27:42.440 --> 00:27:42.900 But who am I? 00:27:45.920 --> 00:27:46.910 Who am I to even consider? 00:27:47.100 --> 00:27:48.580 I'm not religious elite. 00:27:50.680 --> 00:27:53.200 I'm not a perfect person. 00:27:53.200 --> 00:27:56.000 I wouldn't be described as my friends, as the spiritual one. 00:27:58.420 --> 00:27:58.780 But who? 00:28:00.500 --> 00:28:07.720 And he says it like this, "Look, it's grace upon grace." It's like thinking of the waves of an ocean. 00:28:09.340 --> 00:28:14.670 For every excuse you bring before God, another wave of his grace crashes over you. 00:28:15.840 --> 00:28:16.740 Grace upon grace. 00:28:18.820 --> 00:28:24.500 This is John saying to us, look, this is an invitation for anyone that recognizes they need Jesus. 00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:32.640 That Jesus has closed this chasm between us and him to give us a place to even encounter him. 00:28:33.120 --> 00:28:39.660 That isn't his glory locked behind some tabernacle that one guy one time a year can get behind and see. 00:28:42.940 --> 00:28:46.060 This is the platform for you to know this Jesus. 00:28:48.620 --> 00:28:55.800 To let Jesus speak for himself and to embrace the goodness of who he is, to not walk in line with religion, but to walk in 00:28:55.800 --> 00:28:56.830 line with relationship. 00:28:57.880 --> 00:29:03.880 To look at these 18 verses and as the pinnacle of communication to who Jesus is. 00:29:03.940 --> 00:29:10.540 And now through the verses ahead, experience how Jesus related to others to recognize that you can experience the same Jesus too. 00:29:14.320 --> 00:29:22.260 John 1:1-18 is to prepare for the story that's to display the 00:29:22.360 --> 00:29:24.550 goodness of Jesus in a personal way. 00:29:25.720 --> 00:29:28.180 To grab hold of Christ. 00:29:29.840 --> 00:29:38.650 The only way you can know God is to know Jesus. 00:29:39.090 --> 00:29:46.210 I love and these verses ahead, Jesus just comes before early on in his ministry with his followers, he just comes with 00:29:46.210 --> 00:29:54.270 a simple invitation, "Follow me, follow me." I 00:29:54.270 --> 00:29:56.140 love the simplicity of that. 00:29:57.830 --> 00:29:59.060 What's my heart about today? 00:30:01.190 --> 00:30:04.700 Got your glory made known in my life that I could just follow you. 00:30:06.270 --> 00:30:07.110 Whatever you say. 00:30:08.650 --> 00:30:15.410 And my heart just tune in to the glory of that praise that you deserve through my life, because you have given me yours. 00:30:17.750 --> 00:30:18.070 Follow me. 00:30:20.570 --> 00:30:27.590 Not only that guys, but I would add this to it, that in pursuing Jesus in this world, not only does he want to 00:30:27.590 --> 00:30:34.730 make his glory made known in your life, but he also wants to make his glory made known through 00:30:34.730 --> 00:30:35.290 your life. 00:30:37.510 --> 00:30:44.170 And never are you more like Jesus than when you live for Christ in a vulnerable way. 00:30:46.350 --> 00:30:53.630 You think about what made Jesus so incredible to the world around him was, he became flesh and he became 00:30:53.630 --> 00:30:55.530 the servant of servants. 00:30:56.830 --> 00:31:01.090 He sacrificed and he gave that the glory of God would be made known in our lives. 00:31:03.130 --> 00:31:09.730 And if our master was willing to do that, how much more should we, who are called to be his servants? 00:31:12.150 --> 00:31:19.650 Never more like Jesus in our lives than in our vulnerability when we give ourselves fully over him to 00:31:19.650 --> 00:31:21.910 him and the way that we care for others in this world. 00:31:24.010 --> 00:31:26.950 To know him and to make him known. 00:31:28.410 --> 00:31:30.390 And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:31:30.790 --> 00:31:31.810 And we saw his glory. 00:31:31.910 --> 00:31:35.740 The glory is the only begotten full of grace and truth.