The coming of the Word brings grace

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This week we are ending this amazing introduction of the gospel of John. I cant quite put into words how incredible these first 18 verses are. And just how meaningful they are for each and every one of us. In the past few weeks we have seen a few major things in this text. Two major things we have seen in the last few weeks are.... Jesus eternally God who created all things came to bring life and light to a dark world, and last week we saw that John the Baptist was sent by God to proclaim about the light so all who believe in the light would have eternal life.

This weeks text is one of the most important texts for all Christians to grasp, because its foundational that all people believe that the world became flesh. The word became flesh, The word became flesh. and today we will see that very thing, and implications of his coming.

Let us read the whole intro one last time together but the word of God this morning we will be in is John 1:14-18 “14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”

IF you are taking notes this morning or looking at your bulletin The main point this morning is this… Jesus eternally God became man so in him we could receive the grace that only comes from God.

How do we break that down… We break it down in two ways. The first thing we see is…

The Word became flesh.

This is a reality that I have talked about the last several weeks, but into todays text we see it more fully. The Word became flesh. Remember this Word was eternally God, with the Father, with the Holy Spirit, yet different persons. And the word Became man. Something he was not.

I saw a quote this week that i thought explained this reality well and it said, “This reality is surly the most profound ever because it indicated that the infinite became finite; the eternal was conformed to time; the invisible became visible; the supernatural One reduced himself to the natural. In the incarnation, however the word did not cease to be God but became God in human flesh i.e. undiminished diety in human form as a man.

Lets break that quote down. Jesus is infinite. Meaning he has no limits. Nothing can change that. But he became finite in his coming in the flesh. Meaning he had limits.

He is eternal. Church as we have already discussed over and over again Jesus Christ has been around for all eternity. He is not created, he is and will always be eternal. But he conformed to time here on earth. He lived on this earth for over 30 years. Growing like any child would, learning, and most importantly doing ministry here on earth.

He who was once invisible became visible. No-one had every seen God, yet as the text says, he made God known.

He did this without ceasing to be God. When Jesus Christ came into the flesh he did not stop being God he just became God and man. This is known in theological terms as the hypostatic union. Jesus 100 percent man and 100 percent God. not half man, half God, all man and all God. And church he had to become flesh in order that we could have eternal life, and ill get back to that idea in a moment, but the text says that he dwelt among us. He came to the people of Israel. To live among his chosen people.

The term dwell means to pitch a tent, and the people of Israel would know exactly what that meant.

See in the Old Testament in the wilderness, God chose his dwelling place to be in the tabernacle. It was a place where he dwelt. And John using the old testament is giving us an illustration that one who used to only dwell on earth in a tabernacle is going to dwell with us as one of us. A human just like all of us.

And as a result we see his glory. The disciples seen first hand this glory in both a physical and spiritual way. John himself was with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration.Were he beheld the glory of God in person, But he was also changed by him spiritually. By the teaching of Jesus, and by the Spirit who would come later.

And this glory displayed to them in person is from the son and it was full of grace and truth from the father.

John uses this statement full of grace and truth in the same way he used the term dwelt. going back to the scriptures. In Exodus 33:18-19 “18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”

we again see it in the next chapter of Exodus Exodus 34:5-7 “5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.””

The glory that came to this earth to dwell was the same glory that the people of Israel seen in the wilderness.

But why does this matter? The implications for him coming in the flesh are found all throughout scripture, but in one commentary the author gave some critical reasons that he had to come in the flesh.

He said If Jesus did not become man, he could not be tempted. x2 If Jesus did not become man, he could not be an example, x2 If Jesus did not become a man he could not die. x2

Those things are all valid points, and i want you to think about it. If you dont have those things happen then how could we have a savior who can sympathize with our weaknesses. Because he lived he can understand the pressures of this world, the temptations that we have, the needs we have. And the savior we need.

How could we have an human example if he had not lived in the flesh. We say it all the time in church or around others Jesus is our example, and as our example he shows us how to live. But most importantly he shows us grace.

And he showed us that grace through his death. See if he did not come in the flesh he could not have died in the flesh, and as we know as the bible tells us if he did not die then we could not be saved.

Scripture has so many examples of all these three truths

, but I want to just read one to you....

Hebrews 2:14-18 “14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

We see his humanity in this text, we see his rescuing, we see his purpose, we see his grace, and we see how he can help others when they are tempted.

See Jesus Christ became flesh so he could truly bring us grace.

A second thing I want you to write down or take note of is this…

The word brings grace.

Last week we were introduced to John the Baptist, and in this text he boldly proclaims about the one who brings grace, noting that even though he was born before Christ physically, Christ was before him eternally. Jesus himself will make this statement later in the book speaking of someone much older than John the Baptist. I will preach this message later but I want you to hear it now so this truth resinates with you. John 8:48-59 “48 The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” 49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” 52 The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” 54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ 55 But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” “57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.”

John the Baptist wasn’t much older than Jesus, but Abraham sure was and as we have learned in this book, Jesus is the eternal I am, and Jesus Christ the one who brings grace had all the fullness of God, Col 2:9 “9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,” Jesus did not lack anything, and because of that He is able to give grace upon grace.

Those who receive his full grace are those who believe, but what kind of grace is grace upon grace? We have heard the term many times, but what is its true meaning. I see scripture giving us the best meaning of this term grace upon grace, and we see it most notably in the book of Ephesians. My wife’s favorite book, but notice how he describes grace.

Ephesians 1:5-8 “5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight”

It the kind of grace that comes from adoption if you were with us last week you remember the adoption story of grace. But its a love that choses you out of darkness and brings you into light and makes you a child of God by his own choosing.

Its a grace that leads to praise because of how blessed we are for what he has done for us.

Its a grace that gives us redemption through his blood. Saving us from our sins.

Its a grace that forgives us of all our trespasses. Notice the word all.

Its a grace that is full of riches, and a grace he as the bible says lavished upon us. The word lavished means bestow something in generous or extravagant quantities on. That’s the kind of grace I need because of my own sin.

Its a grace only God can give.

Its a different kind of grace that the law gave. See we have always been saved by grace, but that grace wasn’t realized in such a way until Christ came.

One main said, “The law represented God’s standard of righteousness; grace exhibited his attitude to human beings who found that they could not keep the law. This attitude was depicted in the person and life of Jesus.”

The law did have some grace, but it was never intended to save. Romans 7:13 proves that very point

Romans 7:13 “13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.”

The law ultimately showed the Jews and us that we are unrighteous, and showed us our need for a savior and as we have learned so far in John he came to save us indeed.

Jesus came full of grace and full of truth in a way the law was not.

I love what one commentator said, “the coming of the law through Moses must be understood as a period or stage of grace. Yet it was not the final stage because the full characteristics of God in a personal embodiment of grace (loving-kindness) and truth (genuine steadfastness and fidelity) could not be revealed except through “Jesus Christ.”

When Jesus Christ came in the flesh humanity could truly see God for the first time. Full of grace and full of truth.

The same commentator said, “Here, finally, the evangelist identified the coming of the incarnate Logos with the name of Jesus. But notice that he made the link through the postresurrection title of Jesus Christ. The meaning then of “grace upon grace” in v. 16 becomes clear when one understands that the historical coming (egeneto) of Jesus Christ is the ultimate gift of God in the unveiling of God’s way of salvation understood in terms of the “entire Christ event”—the birth, life, death, resurrection, exaltation, and return of Jesus the Christ”

The ultimate act of grace was that God sent his son to earth. To live to be born like you and I yet without the stain of original sin. To live a sinless perfect life. To die a death on the cross for his children ( those who believe )

To be raised from the dead on the third day, to be worshiped, exalted and to return again one day!!!

Jesus revealed himself to his own creation and No one had ever seen God truly the only God who is at the fathers side yet Jesus made him known.

John 14:8-11 “8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.”

The coming of Jesus Christ which brought grace revealed to the disciples and the world who the father truly is. As Col 1:15 “15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”

If you haven’t noticed I love tying songs in to my sermons as illustrations for us, and one I found during my study was written in the 1800 ‘s by a man named Josiah Condor.

The Gospel according to John I. The Prologue (1:1–18)

Thou art the everlasting Word,

The Father’s only Son;

God manifestly seen and heard,

And Heaven’s beloved One.