Advent Series: Love

John 1:14-18

WK1: Hope: In Christ, we have the hope of having our sins remitted and forgiven, the hope of eternal life with God, and the hope of no longer being in debt to our flesh (sinful nature), but to live in the filling of God’s grace/mercy/love

WK 2: Peace: In Christ, we are no longer enemies with God, we are friends with God; in Christ, where enmity once existed, peace now exists.

WK 3: Joy: In Christ, we live in the position of true joy, a joy knowing our inheritance as believers in incorruptible, undefiled, lasting forever, which is reserved in heaven by God—a joy of salvation in which even the heavenly host of angels look upon in wonder and amazement.

TODAY: Love: In all we’ve talked about (hope, peace, and joy)—God’s uncommon and unbelievable love is the conduit by which man (you and I) can partake and experience these, and live under—now and in the promise of eternal life.

There is no greater subject in all world that God’s love. If God—who created us, fearfully and wonderfully in His likeness and image—love us as Scripture says He does, then it MUST mean He is not far off and distant, unconcerned and uncompassionate towards us…looking for every mistake we make in order He might punish us:

On the contrary, God’s very nature is love and b/c He is bound to act upon His nature—He bound to show us His love and act upon His love towards us

In chapter 3 of John’s 1st of three epistles, (which I highly enourage you to read), John gives us some truths about God’s love

God’s love provides the wonderful privilege of being adopted as God’s children; moreso in John’s gospel and right--adoption as His children

God’s love is uncommon and unbelievable— “oh what manner of love the Father...”

God’s love is a love bestowed upon us (given to us)

God’s love has motive: purity (purposed and rooted in salvation, God desires to save and sanctify man to be a people like Him.

God’s love sees to it we are tranformed more and more into the image of His Son

1 Corinthians 15:49“And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.”

Romans 8:29 “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”

This is but just a morsel of what Scripture teaches about God’s love. \

In the midst all the brokenness people experience, live in and under—how can they---how can we—how can you-- understand the demonstrative/revealing nature of God’s love and what purpose His love has for you?

We see this in our verses today: (READ JOHN 1:14-18)

I. (v.14) God’s love was revealed when (1) the Word (2) became flesh, (3) dwelt among us, as the (4) only begotten Son of the Father, who (4) was full of grace and truthflesh

John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” “was” (this speaks of identity)

The Word “became flesh” (stay with me for a few, lean in, and hopefully we will the magnitude of the incarnation)

“Flesh”—(sarx) describes man’s nature with all of its weakness and tendency to sin; this is staggering…why?

What more does the Bible say about our “flesh”?

Our flesh in corruptible/tainted/debased/ruined and depraved b/c of this seed of corruption we know as “sin”

Our flesh is dishonorable b/c of sin; it, and therefore we, do not exist in the image God intends us to bear—His

Our flesh is weak: it’s impotent/feeble/fragile/infirmed and decrepit b/c of sin—possession no strength to please God or save itself

Our flesh is a natural body—flesh is of the earth/part of the earth---it’s the earthly house

the Word “became flesh” (note two things here)

(First) Christ became flesh

In becoming flesh would experience the same pressures/temptations/effects of the flesh, as the author of Hebrews teaches in Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

Jesus Christ

Came to relate to man

Was tempted in every way a person

Became physically tired/weary, felt emotions as we feel emotions

Jesus Christ, in becoming flesh, would experience the same pressures/temptations/effects of the flesh…without sin and in doing so He would

Correct and counteract the corruption of flesh

Correct and counteract the dishonor of flesh

Correct and counteract the weakness of flesh

Correct and to counteract the the natural flesh

(SECOND) Jesus Christ came as (1) God and (2) God’s Self-expression of Himself

(As God) Jesus Christ came as the One who, “was the Word, was with God, and was God.” (read John 1:1)

“In the beginning was the Word...” (this speaks of His eternality)

“In the beginning....was with God..” (this speaks of the eternal nature of the relationship)

“In the beginning...was God...” (speak to the eternal nature of His identity)

Jesus did not “adopt a form of body” or “assume manhood” as so many think. Why? In Biblical language, for Him to come in these ways would divest Him of divinity and the relationship b/t God and His Son would possess a state of being divided: “John’s articulation of the “in-fleshing” (incarnation) is brought in the boldest way. If the Evangelist had said only that the eternal Word assumed manhood or adopted the form of a body, the reader...might have missed the point.” (D.A. Carson)

In simple language---Jesus Christ came as God and what this means is the part of how Christ came

(As God’s Self-expression of Himself)

(O/T lens) Exodus teaches us that God—in the ‘tent of meeting’—”would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to a friend.”

Exodus 33:11 “So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.”

Exodus reveals that Moses hears the divine name spoken by God himself (I AM WHO I AM), which is followed by God’s word---His Self-expression of Who He is, His nature, and How we can know Him--written on two stone tablets

(N/T) John is saying here, that no longer has God’s Self-expression remained confined to two stone tablets, rather His Word and His Self-expression has been made flesh—been manifested..God, thru Christ has made Himself known

How do this draw us to see the uncommon and unbelievable love of God?

Remember our discussion 2 weeks ago related to Romans 5:6---How Christ died for us when we were “without strength” and “ungodly”

“Without strength”-

“Ungodly”-

This descriptions of who a person was (is) before Christ were no less present at His birth than they were at His death; that God knew this—that Christ willingly, obediently, and for the “joy set before Him,” stepped out of glory, put on flesh as the Self-expression of the Father, should give us cause to pause and think

Maybe you’re broken-hearted today…

Maybe you are in despair and are near the end of yourself

Maybe you’ve been searching, pining, and yearning for love in wrong/sinful places/people

Maybe you’re here this morning and you desperately need a reminder of just how much God loves you…that His love still pursues you, desires you

Maybe you’re here this morning and you’re sitting in a space where you can’t imagine God loving you despite how prodigal you once were or are now.

To this person:

May you know the immense love of God, may you be as Paul prayed for the Ephesians, “strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

In the divinity, perfection, holiness, and righteousness Christ possessed in the incarnation, you can know with certainty and assurace that He came “not to condemn you…but to save you from your sins and bring you to God

The Word “dwelt among us”: The Greek literally translates “the Word pitched His tabernacle, or lived in His tent, amongst us.” (This draws us back to the O/T and thr through that lens, we can see the magnitude of the incarnation:

Old Testament (or covenant)

Exodus 25:8–9 “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.”

God would come to dwell Israel—and speak with Moses—in the way God presribed, in the way He established

New Testament (or covenant) God sent His Son into this world, so that man might be reconciled thru Him and He would then dwell within man:

This was the New Covenant—no longer would the Holy Spirit come and go (as in the O/T), but to those who would place their faith and trust in Jesus---God will then dwell in man

Romans 8:11 “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

1 Corinthians 3:16 “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

1 Corinthians 6:19 “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”

Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

How are we drawn to see the uncommon and unbelievable love of God in this?

In God’s love towards us—when realized and trusted in provides us the most wonderful of assurances and promises Scripture has to offer:

(Read Romans 8:31-39)

Grasp this, the love of God!! In and thru Christ, God chose to make Himself known, so that thru faith we might become known by God…this is not mere acknowledgement that we “exist”—this is God’s full awareness that in Christ—we are His adopted son and daugthers.

The Word was “the only begotten Son of the Father...”

“only begotten Son of the Father” (the Greek opens this up for us)

“only begotten” translates as

Only-born

Only-child

“…only begotten Son of the Father,” refers to Christ—and in this it means

Jesus Christ—as the Son of God—is the sole representative of the Being and character of he One who sent Him

Hebrews 1:1–3 “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”

The Word was “full of grace and truth.”

“Grace”—probable the most meaningful word in our language, grace means far more in Scripture than when man uses it.

Man’s use (3 things)

The quality within a thing that is beautiful or joyful (a flower’s fragrance, richness of green grass, etc)

Anything that has loveliness (thought, act word, or a person)

A gift or favor someone might extend to a friend—a gift/favor freely done, expecting nothing in return—something always done for a friend.

Scripture’s use (there’s a distinctive difference b/t God’s grace and man’s grace):

Whereas man “sometimes” does favors for his/her friends—and is thereby said to, “be gracious,” God has done a thing unheard of among men:

God sent His Son to die for His enemies (Rom 5:8-10)

God has saved sinners—those who have acted against Him—doing so, “while they (we) were still sinners”

God’s grace is undeserved, cannot be merited, cannot be earned or even sustained

Godly grace is grace which dwells in the very nature of God—the kindness and love freely given to His enemies

How are we to be drawn to see, again, the uncommon and unbelievable love of God in Christ as the only begotten Son of God, who is “full of grace and truth?”

(FIRST) The immensity of God’s love is seen, in that He in fact He did send His Son to this world

John 3:16–17“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all...”

(SECOND) The immensity of God’s love is seen, in the truth that Jesus Christ was the grace gift man so desparately needs

Romans 5:15 “But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.”

Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,”

II. (v.15) God’s love is realized as men testify of it

John 1:15 “John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ””

John testifed of Christ here and then in 1:29 says he states: “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

John was testifying to the love of Christ—b/c the people then, just as people now, did not, nor could they know unless they were told.

1 John 4:19 “We love Him because He first loved us.”

Romans 10:14 “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?”

Romans 10:17 “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

How does this help us understand the uncommon and unbelievable love of God?

Sharing and testifying of Christ (1) reminds us of God’s love towards us and keeps the light of salvation from growing dim

Sharing and testifying of Christ is the ONLY real message of VALUE we can give others

Psalm 107:1–2 “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,”

(MAPS example in the Bible)—Proof of life

III. (v.16-17) God’s love is realized in understanding the “fullness and grace of Christ” was given to us

John 1:16–17 “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

“Fullness” (GRK) means

That which fills

The sum total—the totality

Scripturally speaking—it is the sum total of all that is in God (Colossians 1:19 “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,” )

“Fullness in Jesus Christ” then means this:

All that Christ is—the fullness of His being—is given to us who believe

All of Christ’s, “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance

We are complete in Him!

“Grace of grace” means that Christ

Gives grace upon grace

Gives grace enough to meet our needs—no matter the circumstance

Fresh experiences each and every day

“Grace of grace,” this fullness of God—His grace and truth

Does NOT COME thru

Being as good as we can

By working to please God as much as we can

By keeping the rules and commandments of the law

Does come thru man

Coming to God thru Jesus Christ in salvation

Coming to God thru Jesus Christ for sanctification

Coming to God’s grace—which both saves and sustains

How can we realize the uncommon and unbelievable God in the fullness of God?

This is seen in the second part of Romans 8:32 “... how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

God does not save us thru Christ to leave us to ourselves—God saves us

In order He might dwell with us

In order He might walk with us

In order He might sanctify us

In order He might bring us to glory

The immense love of God saves sinners and sustains sinners, so that one day, sanctified sinners might become glorified saints living in glory with Him forever

IV. (v.18) God’s love is realized as we understand God can be seen through Jesus Christ

John 1:18 “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”

No one has seen God

What about those in the O/T? Many of these (Abraham, Joshua, Gideon, and others) witnessed the pre-incarnate Christ---who was able to be seen without harm

What about Moses & Isaiah?

Moses saw the Lord’s glory, seeing so to speak, “the afterglow of the divine glory of God” and in this diminished sense, God spoke with Moses ‘face to face, and Moses sees the form of the Lord (Nu 12:8)

Isaiah saw but the hem or train of God’s garment (Isaiah 6:1 “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.” ), yet that was enough for him to cry out, “Woe to me…I am ruined.”

The magnitude of God’s love is seen in John’s words in v.18 (No other passage puts words together like this)

“the only begotten Son”--The right rendering of this verse comes to mean

“Monogenes theos,” that is the “unique and beloved one (Himself) God, “who is at the bosom of the Father, has declared Him”

This means, “the Word [Jesus Christ],” who, as D.A. Carson says, “was simultaneously God and with God—has broken the barrier that made it impossible for human beings to see God, and has made Him known.

This truth prepares us for Jesus’ words later in John

John 6:46 “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.”

John 14:9 “Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”

This truth teaches/reminds/beckons you to see:

If you are marred—you can be mended

If you are addiction—you can unbound

If you are burdened—you can lightened

If you are broken you can be fixed

If you are wrecked you can be restored

If you are lost you can be found

If you are weak, you can find strength

If you are hopeless, hope has found you

If you are not at peace, peace has come

If you feel unloved, Love has come for you

(CLOSING/WORSHIP)

God’s love is uncommon/unbelievable when you think about how man has

Chosen to go his own way

Wanted little to do w/ God

Wanted little to do w/ God’s wisdom and sanctification

Ignored/neglected, cursed/disobeyed, disbelieved/rejected/and denied Him

God’s love is immense in that despite the heart of man (reflected above)

God didn’t hesitate to send Him into this world—in the midst of our corruption

God didn’t spare His Son the agony, pain, humiliation, and suffering of the cross— “while we were still sinners”

God’s love, lastly is this: Our sin put Christ on the cross---God’s love kept Him on the cross

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God’s love was birthed in a lowly/humble

God’s love was demonstrated on the cross

“God proved His love on the cross. When Christ hung, bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, “I love you!” (Billy Graham)

God’s love was solidified in the resurrection of Christ

God’s love was assured at the ascension, as the promise of the Holy Spirit was to come