4
John 1:14-18 GRACE AND TRUTH THROUGH JESUS
Introduction:
In our message last Sunday we concentrated chiefly on the
first
part of verse 14. In our message today
we will concentrate
on the last part of that verse
and move on down through verse 18.
John wants us to know that grace and truth
comes to us through
Jesus Christ.
I.
Jesus, a man full of grace and truth
Let
us take another look at verse 14. V. 14,
"And the Word
was made flesh, and dwelt among
us..." The Apostle John
informed
us that Jesus became a man. He was born
into human
flesh
as a man. He was altogether human.
But the apostle John said also that Jesus is much more than a
man. He is Deity God. He is a member of the Godhead. He is
Deity God dwelling in human flesh.
The
human flesh in which Jesus dwelt so veiled the glory of
His God nature that one could not tell by
merely looking upon His
human
body that He is Deity God.
Yet
the glory of His Deity did, in a limited way, show
through
to those who saw Him in the flesh. That
is, His glory
showed
through at least to those who were willing to acknowledge
it. The apostle said, "...(and
we beheld his glory, the glory as
of the only begotten of the
Father,) "We beheld His glory..." All
who saw His miracles saw the
evidence that He is more than a man.
He is God.
Peter, James and John, who saw Him transfigured, saw
the glory of God shining
through His flesh as bright as the
noon-day
sun. They saw the evidence that He is
God in human
flesh. All of His disciples who saw Him after He
arose from the
grave,
saw the evidence that He is the Son of God.
Those who saw
Him arise into
the air and go away into heaven saw the evidence
that He is Deity God.
The
Apostle John then said that Jesus is "...full of grace
and truth." The word, grace, means "Unmerited
favor." This is
the thing that is so vital to
us. We are all somewhat like the
man whom the judge sought to
comfort him by telling him that he
would
receive justice. The man said,
"Your honor, I do not want
justice. What I want is mercy."
We
are all guilty of sin. Even though the
God of heaven will
deal with us in all justice, if
He showed no mercy we would be in
serious
trouble. What we need is the grace and
mercy of God.
The Bible says that all have sinned and
come short of the glory
of God, Rom.
and see sinners all around us
in the world, but we can look in
the mirror and see a
sinner. It is bad enough to know that we
are living in a world with
sinful people, but it is far worse to
know that we, also, are
sinners. To know that you have sinned
against
God is a frightening thought. It means
that unless you
receive
the grace of God you will spend the rest of eternity in
the fires of hell.
The
Apostle John said not only that Jesus is full of grace,
but he said also that Jesus is
full of truth. We do not need
somebody
who will give us a false gospel that will not save.
One of the most terrible things would be
for somebody to persuade
an unsaved person to place his
faith in a gospel message that
will not save. The sad thing is that it is being done every
day.
Thousands of people are being hoodwinked
into thinking that they
are going to heaven who are
still lost. They will never know
that they are still lost until
it is everlastingly too late.
What man needs is the truth of God. It does not matter that the
truth
may hurt. It does not matter that the
truth may conflict
with what our parents or
grandparents say. It does not matter
that this is not what we would
like to hear. What we need is the
truth
of God. Our eternal destiny depends on
knowing the truth
about
our sins and the truth about how to be saved.
II. The witness of John the Baptist
concerning Jesus
In
verse 15, the Apostle John speaks again of John the
Baptist. John the Baptist is the special witness that
God sent
to prepare the way for the
ministry of the Christ. Back in
earlier
verses John said that John the Baptist was a man sent
from God and that he was sent to
bear witness of the true Light.
V. 15, "John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was
he of whom I
spake..." Even before John the
Baptist knew that
Jesus is the Christ, he bore witness that
the Christ was about to
come on the scene. Then after he learned that Jesus is the
Christ he bore witness that this
particular man, Jesus, is the
Christ.
He said, "This is he of whom I spake. This is the
Christ whom I told you was coming."
John
the Baptist went on to explain, (V. 15), "...He that
cometh
after me is preferred before me: for he was before me."
That sounds like double-talk. Doesn't it?
The Baptist is using
a play on words to catch
attention. He said, "Jesus came
after
me, He is preferred before me,
and He was before me."
What
John the Baptist meant when he said, "...he cometh after
me..." is that the
ministry of John started before the ministry
of Jesus. John could truly say, "He is coming
after me." When
John said, "He is preferred before me"
he meant that Jesus is a
person
who is to be honored more than himself.
Jesus is a
greater
person than John the Baptist. When John
said, "He was
before
me" John the Baptist was talking about Jesus existing
before
the world was ever created. John was
just using catchy
words
to catch the attention of people in a effort to persuade
them that Jesus is really the
Christ.
III. The benefits of God's grace through
Jesus
V. 16, "And of his fulness have all we
received..." John the
Apostle is speaking now and says that we
have all received
benefits
out of the fulness of Christ. John probably had in mind
that we who are saved have all
received the benefits of the
saving
grace of God through Jesus. But it is
also true that all
mankind
has received benefits out of His fulness. All mankind
has received His love. He provides the material necessities for
all mankind. He provides saving grace for all and makes it
available
to all.
(V. 16), "...and grace for grace." What this means is that
we have received benefit after
benefit. We have received
kindness
after kindness. We have received
goodness after
goodness. We have received blessing after
blessing. This has
already
been true here in this life in this world of trouble and
woe. What in the world would we do without the
help of God in
our lives? Yet there are greater benefits and greater
blessings
ahead. The greatest benefits of all will come after
they get to
heaven. Great benefits come in this life, but the
greatest
benefits
of all will be in the next life.
IV. A contrast between Moses and Jesus
In
verse 17 John the Apostle is again the speaker.
V. 17,
"For the law was given by
Moses..." Primarily, the law was
given
to the nation of
world. But the point that John was making is that
God used Moses
to give the law.
The
whole law system of worship was given by Moses.
Moses
gave not only the ten
commandments, but all of the other laws.
This included all the various regulations
regarding the
tabernacle,
the sacrifices and the holy days.
The
law could not give righteousness to man.
The law could
only call attention to the
unrighteousness of man. It could
point
out the sinfulness of man. It could show
him that he had
broken
the law and had sinned against God. But
it could never
cleans
a man from sin. It could never forgive
sin. It could not
save a lost sinner and keep him
out of hell. It could not get an
entrance
to heaven for any man. The law could
only pronounce the
penalty
of suffering on the sinner for breaking the law.
John
was especially calling attention to the law system of
worship
because this is the system of worship under which the
nation
of
done so from the early history
of the nation.
I
might point out, however, that the law was never intended
to save. It was never intended to make the guilty
sinner
sinless. It was never intended as a way to stay out of
hell and
go to heaven. The law was always intended to convince men
that
they are guilty before God and
show them the need of seeking and
forgiveness
through the grace of God.
The
law did, by means of types and shadows, show that the
grace
of God is available. The blood of
various animals were
slain
in order to point men to the coming Christ whose blood
would
be shed on the cross for the sins of men.
But the blood of
no animal ever saved anybody
from their sins.
(V. 17), "...but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." The
law could condemn a man for
committing sin, but the grace of God
through
Jesus can forgive a man of his sin. It
can cleanse a man
from every sin so that he will
stand before God as though he had
never
committed sin. How is
the grace of God made available to
man? It comes through faith in Jesus Christ. From the beginning
that is the way that sinful man
has been saved. Adam and Eve
received
the grace of God through faith in the promised Seed of
Woman. God told Adam and Eve about the Seed of Woman
and
informed
them that the Seed of Woman would crush the head of that
old serpent, the Devil. Even under the law system of worship the
only way that men could be saved
was by the grace of God through
faith
in the coming Christ. The law could not
save. Only the
grace
of God could save through faith in Jesus even during the
days of the law.
During
the personal ministry of Jesus on earth a whole new
system
of worship was started. It was started
by Him. Jesus
established
the New Testament church system of worship.
Yet even
the church cannot save men from
their sin. Only the Lord Jesus
Christ can save. The grace of God has never come to lost
sinners
any way other than through
faith in Jesus Christ.
This
is especially meaningful in our day when men have
devised
so many different ways to try to get to heaven.
But
Jesus has said, "I am the way, the
truth and the life; no man
cometh
unto the Father by me."
V.
Jesus, who brings grace and truth to man
In
verse 14 note that John not only said that grace came
by
Jesus Christ, but he also said that truth
came by Jesus Christ.
This is the same thought that is involved
in verse 18. V. 18,
"No man hath seen God at any time;
the only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father,
he hath declared him." Jesus is
the One who is able to reveal
God the Father to us. He is the
One who is able to reveal the great love
that God has for us.
John
said that no man has seen God. That is,
no man has seen
the fulness
of God's glory. Not even Moses, the
giver of the
law. He desired to see God's glory and asked God
to let him do
so, but was never allowed to
do so. God did grant him the
privilege
of seeing a limited form of His glory.
God put Moses
in a cleft in a great
rock. Then God covered Moses with His
hand
so that Moses could not see
while God in all His glory passed by.
However, after God had passed by and only
a remnant of His glory
was visible God uncovered Moses
so that he could see that portion
of God's glory. Not Moses, nor Isaiah, nor Elijah, nor
Ezekiel
nor any of the other great
prophets of God ever saw God' full
glory
-- not even John the Baptist, who was the forerunner of
Jesus,
was able to see God.
But
Jesus Christ is the Eternal Word of God.
He is one of
the Godhead. He is the Light of God to the world. He is Only
Begotten Son of God. He is said to be in the bosom of the
Father. This is a term which indicates the closest
and tenderest
of relationships. He was on the throne of God with God the
Father before the world was ever
formed. He was there with God
until
He came to earth in the form of man. Now
He has returned
to heaven and has taken His
place at the right hand of God once
more. There is one difference. Now there is a man on the throne
of God. That man is Jesus Christ, the God-man.
Jesus
is the One -- the only One -- who can reveal God to
man. Jesus knows all there is to know about
God. He knows the
real truth about God and God's
will for man. He knows every
truth
of God. When He speaks He speaks with
the full authority
of God. Whatever Jesus speaks is the truth of God.
Conclusion:
Every
man, woman, boy and girl upon the face of the earth
need to call on the Lord Jesus
Christ and trust in Him for the
salvation
of the soul. Nobody knows the love that
God the Father
has for lost sinners better
than Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Every saved person needs to listen to Jesus and let Jesus
direct
his pathway in life. Jesus knows what is
best for man and
will direct man in the way of
truth and righteousness.
There
may be somebody here this morning who is unsaved. If
so, would you come today and
call on the Lord Jesus and ask Him
to save your soul? Come today.
There
may be some saved person here this morning who feels
the need of turning his life
over to the Lord letting the Lord
have His way. If that person is you, would you come during this
invitation
and let the Lord have His way with you?