From Christmas to Calvary

Manuscript:(Jeremy's Scripture Reading)

Today's sermon text can be found in John 1:14-18. Hear the Word of the Lord... 14The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15(John testified concerning him and exclaimed, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The one coming after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’ ”)

16Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness,

17for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him. Jeremy: This is God's Word.Congregation: Thanks be to God.Jeremy: You may be seated. Let's pray [Heavenly Father, We come to you in humbly. Thanking you for your glory. And that you made this glory known in such a profound way in the first coming of your Son. Lord, I pray that this past week was more than one filled with festivities. More than one filled with just pleasantries, but God I pray that you would speak to your people. We need it now more than ever. Be with those who are in need of encouragement during what is already a difficult season, but exasperated all the more by the trying times of our day. We lift them up to you Father. We pray for healing. We pray for your Word to go out among the masses, and that your Spirit would revive the souls of many What we know not, please teach us. What we have not, please give us. What we are not, please make us. It's in the matchless name of Jesus we pray... And all God's people said (Amen.)] I'll say, "Bless the Lord," if you say, "Oh my soul." Bless the Lord. (Oh my soul.) Oh bless His holy name. Good morning, my name is Eric Warren, I have the pleasure of serving on staff as your high school director and I would like to welcome you to what is affectionately known in the biz as "youth pastor Sunday." Across our country and the world over, pastors have labored long and hard through the year and through the Christmas season. And year after year on the Sunday after Christmas, it's not uncommon for the head honcho to flip the keys over to the youth guy and let them take a crack. So I'd like to thank Pastor Mark for the opportunity, I promise to give it the ole' college try this morning. There goes a famous story of Charles Spurgeon, a renowned preacher of the 19th century. He was known as the Prince of Preachers, naturally after obtaining a nickname like that, a guy like me is going to take an interest given my line of work. After garnering such a reputation for himself he drew massive crowds, jam-packed them into various buildings and venues and the words that spilled out of of this burly, bearded man, were often described as "anointed." That's to say it was easy that this man spoke with a power that was not his own. That he was set aside to do exactly what he was pursuing, and that was to preach God's Word. If any of you perhaps attended a Billy Graham crusade once upon a time, you might be able to imagine such a sight. It's amazing the day and age we live in becasue I can go and follow the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association on Facebook or Instagram and catch these old clips of this man commanding such attention with the boom and conviction of his voice. However there was one glaring difference in these two men. Billy Graham was afforded the benefit of a more modern technology. He would pack football stadiums and with PA systems that would normally call out downs and distances of your favorite sports teams, Charles Spurgeon often relied entirely on the booming voice that God gave him. So it was not an uncommon practice that Spurgeon would often do a little homework beforehand. He would visit venues and churches the night before to tweak and adjust the placement of his speaking platforms and test out the acoustics of where he would be speaking. In 1957 he found himself at the Crystal Palace in North London the night before speaking to 23 thousand people. Can you imagine such a sight? And from the pulpit he let'er rip... John 1:29. "BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD."To Spurgeon, he was just doing his due diligence. A little recon mission... but unbeknownst to him there was a janitor in one of the upper galleries doing his evening's work. And In a season of spiritual struggle this janitor heard this one verse... returned home, and repented of the sin that weighed conviction down on his heart, and right then and there was converted from death in sin, to life in Christ. That's what happens when you behold... Jesus. That's what happens when you see Him, truly see him... So here I ask on December 27th... did you miss it? Did you see Jesus this Christmas season? During any other year it's such a discipline to slow down, to take yourself out of the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping and the fanfare and the preparation for family visits to see, truly see what it is that God is trying to teach us during the Advent season. But no doubt 2020 had different plans for us than what is typical. Shut downs. Cancellations. And what has seemed like a never-ending season of waiting. Lamenting. Grieving. Struggle. And it just goes to show that whether we are carried away in busyness or in a painfully slow crawl, our hearts ache for something deeper this time of year. [Slide]Did you miss it? Did you see it? What we see in our text today; what we see in the Christmas story is the most beautiful of truths. The main point of John 1:14-18 and what I'd argue is one of the main points of the entire Bible is that God. Will. Not. Be. Denied. His. People. [Slide]And we see that evidenced in two ways: by what he has done, and what he offers.

What God has done.

What has He done? What has God done? Here in v.14 we see that God through the person of His Son, The Word, became flesh. Right? Mark walked us through parts of John 1 last week right? John 1:1 In the beginning there was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word ______ God. C'mon, time to wake up. You gotta participate and let me know you're alive out there. In the beginning there was the Word and and the Word was with God and the Word _______ God. Awesome. So right from the jump we are seeing something marvelous here. Something incredibly weighty and important. That the Word was in the beginning. Well who is the Word? John tells us. "It's the one I'm testifying about. You know Moses, the law. (v.17) here is the answer to the law, grace and truth, Jesus the Christ. But let's not get too ahead of ourselves. What has God done? This pre-existent, begotten, not made, eternal Word became flesh and dwelt among us. It seems so simple, but without God himself opening spiritually blind eyes and dead hearts you and I would be sunk. Grasping in the dark, aimlessly, blindly. I had the pleasure of going camping some time ago with Pastor Robert and Jeremy. We had a blast. I enjoy being outdoors like most but I wouldn't say that I am in the regular habit of going camping. So I'm borrowing gear to make the weekend work. I got my pack. Jar of peanut butter. Beyond that... I'm pretty much set. But one thing that each of the guys had that I inconveniently did not, was a headlamp. So we're gathering firewood. It's getting darker, and darker, and darker. And I and progressively becoming more and more useless. I'm finding branches and pieces of downed trees. Holding it up real close to my face... "Is this a good one? Dry? Maybe? I don't know..." I'm tripping over myself, mumbling under my breath. Making a wonderful mess of things because I could not for the life of me see in the pitch black Georgia night. So too are we without the sovereign work of God to make himself known. Wandering around. Stumbling. Making a wonderful mess of things. And John teases out that imagery perfectly here in the first chapter when he says in verse 4 that "in him was life, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it." [Slide: v.14]...He clothed himself with flesh. He made himself known. He revealed himself. There in verse 14 is an important word, you read it as "dwelt," John wrote it as [σκηνόω] which means to take up a tent in the presence of. And what John was alluding to was the Tabernacle of the Old Testament. What was the tabernacle? It was the "tent of meeting" that the Hebrews took with them in their time, post-Exodus, forty years in the wilderness where in their encampment they made a place, a tent, for God's presence to dwell. They would go and be in the presence of God. So what is John the Baptist saying here other than God has come to be present with us. He is tabernacling with us. So Isaiah's prophecy rings loudly in John 1... "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: See the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel which means... "God, with us." How incredible. To know that we are not left here to fend for ourselves. Not left alone. In the dark. In the struggle. In the muck and the mire of life... To be present is a powerful, powerful thing. ApplicationOne of the hardest things that we have had to endure as of late is the separation from loved ones. As the days go by the stories becomes more and more common. A loved one is sick and you cannot be with them. Parents separated from children. Loved ones unable to spend this special time of the year with each other. Spouses of 50 plus years having to be apart from one another. The inability to be with the ones we love has wreaked havoc on the souls of many as of late. And while we mourn and grieve we can still hold on to hope because of this blessed truth that God will be with His people. God is not one who relishes in keeping you in the dark. But instead he took up residence among us and made himself known so that v.14 might be a reality for us. That because the eternal Son of God came to this earth we are able to observe His glory, see Him, Behold Him, full, of grace and truth. It's one of the simplest truths that we know... so often we aren't looking for someone to come along and explain away all the bad stuff in this life; most of the time when the hurt of this world squeezes us, burdens us, what we desire most in this life is for someone to be there at our side, to hug us close, and care. It's called the ministry of presence. Sometimes the most profound thing you can do for someone is to show up and give a darn. Want to know how you can witness to someone this Christmas season? Find someone who's hurting, look them in the eye and say, "I'm here for you. I care about you... And more importantly Jesus cares about you." How do you know that? Because in your deepest time of need with the impossible weight of sin bearing down on your shoulders, Jesus says, "I'm here to take that away." What has God done? God has looked upon you in your sinful state and said I must go and be with him. I have to be with her. I have to be with my beloved.

What God offers

That is what God has done but John goes on to speak of this ever-flowing gift that is extended to us. What it is that God offers. [slide: verse 16-17, leave up on screen]Indeed we have all received grace upon grace from what? from His fullness. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Grace and law. I believe that so often we deceive ourselves into believing that these two things are opposite of one another. That in the Old Testament we have law and New Testament we have grace so naturally I'm going to gravitate towards grace, right? The Old Testament is good and all but I'm gonna camp out here in the New Testament with all the good stuff. But what we have, more powerfully, from Genesis to Revelation is not a God who is opposed to himself. There is not a God of the Old Testament and then a God of the New Testament. But instead a God who has repeatedly, and graciously revealed himself to His beloved. God's law is a measure of grace. Since the fall of man God has constantly been telling His people. Take me! I'm better. Don't have any other God's before me! I'm better. Don't bear false witness, I'm better. Don't commit adultery, my way is better! Don't steal! Take me instead. The law of God was given to us so that we could know Him and draw near to Him. Not out of a heart of obligation, but as a child trusts a loving Father. You may not understand the reasoning of a father's will, but because of his undying affection for you, you lean into His instruction. Ideally... IllustrationAnyone with children knows that a rebellious heart is all too instinctual. Don't touch that! Put that down! Quit hitting your sister. We laugh at it but the truth is that we never truly grow out of that rebellion, we just get better at hiding it. Paul's cry out of Romans 7 becomes our own. For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. We struggle because we know, deep down, that our hearts wage war against God. The law reveals our sin and our desperate need. It is a measure of grace to know that we are running headlong into destruction. Otherwise we're just like the Titanic, blindly on a path that leads to our demise. It all seems bleak. It gives you that lump in your throat and a pit in your stomach... We anticipate judgement because that is what we rightly deserve. But what is God's response?!? Verse 17! Grace upon grace, upon grace, upon grace, upon... grace. See how many times in the span of these five verse John mentions grace. Grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace. It is ever-flowing, never-ending. Why? Because of verse 16... He gives from His what? Fullness. Brothers and sisters though it seems you stand before a world of hurt, and sin, and judgement, I invite you to cast your eyes to the heavens. Maybe some of you did that this past week as you looked to the stars and saw a marvelous display of creation as a few of the planets in our solar system lined up with one another. And as you stared upwards you saw an expanse that seemed to go on and on and on. Never-ending. I hope and pray in moments like that your heart grows warm because you know that the love and the grace of God far exceeds even that! The God who knows each star by name, the one who painted the skies, the one who created these vast displays... His love far outruns any telescope or unit of measurement. In your lowest moment. Grace upon grace. In your greatest hurt. Grace upon grace. It never ends. It never stops. And when you think it just couldn't be so... more grace. That's what verse 17 means. That is what we celebrate at Christmas. Not that we can get to God, but God in His goodness, in His glory, in His mercy, has come. to. us. God did not want you to waiver in the dark. So the invisible God became visible. The sovereign and transcendent God made himself imminent and knowable. That sinners might draw near in the pit of hopelessness and find... life.

Conclusion

In 2009 a movie was released simply entitled, Taken. I'll spare you some of the details because they can get pretty intense but the premise is that the daughter of an ex CIA operative is abducted and sold into slavery. She's "taken" while on a phone call with her father. Very sober-mindedly Liam Neeson's character tells her, "they are going to take you, but tell me every detail that you see and I will find you." After an impossible search, the father investigates, fights, and claws his way across Europe to the final showdown, and after defeating his last foe, he hugs his daughter in close. She sobs uncontrollably and in utter disbelief she says, "you came for me." To which he simply responds, "I told you I would." God came to us. Not because he was lonely. Not because he needed a friend, but because he said he would. That is the testimony of the Bible. Since the fall of man God looked at his foe, and said I will put enmity between your seed and the seed of the woman. You may strike his heel, but he will crush your head. God made a promise and we can rest in full comfort because God always makes good on His promises.--Because he has a very particular set of skills... Just kidding. Promise made... Promise kept. that is the good news of Christmas. Not only that God has come to us. But he has come with a purpose. He has come on a rescue mission. GOD WILL NOT BE DENIED HIS PEOPLE. Before the manger, Jesus was bound for Golgotha.He was a lamb raised for slaughter. Don't let yourself get caught up in just the surface level of the fanfare of Christmas, but dig in. Go deeper! Christmas leads to Calvary. Christmas is such joyous news because of Easter. Jesus came to die. That's why he came. He came so that verse 17 might remain true. Truth is upheld because Sin is punished! And grace abounds because we don't get punished! I'll steal one from John Piper here when I say, "That's why he took on flesh... so that nails could go through it!" That is why we celebrate Christmas. Jesus has come. Because God promised He would. He came to this world and took on flesh. He became incarnate. Among us. And in the incarnation God became like us so that in his death and resurrection, we might become like him. If you're familiar with the term advent, you know that it's this season of hopeful anticipation leading up to Christmas, meant to gear our hearts and minds to be truly celebratory for the hope that has come in Jesus. We now find ourselves in another advent. Much as Israel long awaited their hope and consolation, we wait... as God's people... for his return where he makes all hurt--untrue, and sin will be no more. So, in closing, my invitation to you this morning, whether you have walked good and long with Jesus for many years... ...or you sit there and know in your heart of hearts that this this is not like anything you've truly taken in, my invitation to you this morning is John 1:29... "Behold, the lamb of God. He takes away the sin of the world." You may have heard this story a thousand times over, but something is different this morning. You are, (as Paul states) seeing with the eyes of the heart for the first time. Truly beholding, Jesus. If that's you myself and a team of leaders will be here after the service to meet you, to pray with you, but most importantly, to point you to Jesus who has come that you may have... life. Behold, the true meaning of Christmas. The lamb has come. For you, and for me. He will not be denied His people. A thrill of hope... And our weary world rejoices. Let us pray.