Would you turn in your Bibles to John's Gospel, Chapter 1, and verses 14 to 16, John's Gospel, Chapter 1, and verses 14 to 16, where we read these words. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glorious and the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bear witness of him and cried saying this was he of whom I speak he that cometh after me is preferred before me for he was before me and of his fullness have all we received and grace for grace Now, those are remarkable and very outstanding words given to us here at the beginning of John's gospel as he sets the scene for what he is going to reveal to us of the teaching and the words and the understanding of God. Now, as we come to the scriptures as a preacher, one is embarrassed by the abundance of riches I remember some years ago, and I've had this conversation a number of times with fellow ministers and men in the ministry. When I was a younger man, it used to concern me and worry me. As I have got older, it troubles me even more, but sometimes you meet men in the ministry and they say in a fraternal or when we're meeting together for conversation, you know, I've been in my church for five, six years. I really think I've preached all that I've got to preach. I've got nothing else to say. And I find that very, very hard to understand. I've been preaching the gospel all of my life and I feel that I've barely begun to scratch the surface of the riches of the glory of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when I come to preach, and particularly now as I'm not in a regular, I'm retired and Now, not quite in my dotage, hopefully, but now in my old age, I just feel that I've hardly begun to understand the riches of God's grace and the wonder of his goodness to us. And one of the problems I have when I come, as I do here at Providence today, and I'm just here for two services and then gone again, my problem is what to preach from. There's never a loss for a text to preach on. And the more I go into the riches of the Bible, there's more I want to preach on, and more I want to explain, and more I want to open up. And the greatest problem is knowing which one to choose. I hope you understand that. And I hope as we come to the Bible, and I certainly still find that, you know, it saddens me when I meet men who, they feel as though they've got nothing to say. I come to the Bible and I think there's a sense of holy wonder, the grace of salvation, and the amazing riches of the grace of God, that these are glorious and baffling and amazing truths which are given to us here. so much so that I am prompted often to respond in the words of the hymn which says, Why, O Lord, such love to me? Why have you spent so much on one who has done so little in return? Well, my friends, we're here to submit ourselves to the Word of God, to the holy and righteous God, with awe and reverence and to wonder at his grace. Here are truths of the Word of God, gem truths so great to attempt that when our poor thoughts and minds have been grappling with these truths, they still remain unassailed, their depths unplumbed, their heights unscaled, great alpine peaks dazzling with the glory of God. Indeed, as we sang in our hymn a moment or two ago, it passes knowledge, that dear love of thine, my Jesus Saviour, yet this soul of mine would of thy love in all its length and breadth, its height and depth and everlasting strength know more and more. There is so much more to learn. And as spiritual mountaineers, as it were, we've still a long way to go. How often we're content with the foothills or just a paddle in the shallows when the Lord commands us to launch out into the deep, to scale the heights as we view his glory. Well, here is a verse that speaks of the glory of God. The word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, says John, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Well, may that glory rest upon our souls, such that we are filled with his glory, that we may never tire of hearing of the wonder of our Lord and Savior, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God as we view this glory that is, as John tells us here, full of grace and truth. John begins his gospel with these words. In the beginning was the Word, What does that do? That should immediately echo and re-echo in your heart with the words at the beginning of the Bible in Genesis 1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. What is John doing? John is rooting his gospel in the great revelation of God, this great creative and redeemer God. explains and expounds how God is determined to reveal to us His glory in the world at large, as well as in His Word and in His truth. And if we have come to Christ, we've come to see something of the revelation of God, the Word made flesh, full of grace and truth, as our text tells us. And if we are His children, There is a sense in which we have begun to enter into something of that fullness. We are children, if we are Christians, we are children of God, sons and daughters by adoption, joint heirs with Christ. The image of God, which was lost at the fall has begun to, which was marred at the fall, begun to be restored in us as we live for him. And even in the fall, as we go back to the early chapters of Genesis, we find the grace of God revealed. Now there are people who say, and of course they're right in one sense, that the first time we meet the word grace is in Genesis chapter 6. But my friends, I would argue, and if I were preaching on the early chapters of Genesis, I would illustrate it to you and demonstrate it to you. I believe that God's grace is right there at the beginning. I believe that God's grace is there in chapter 1. Before man is even created, God is laying out this world and creating it in order to bring mankind into the world, in order to demonstrate His grace. And here comes the Lord Jesus Christ now, as our verse tells us, full of grace and truth. That outworking of God's purposes and plans coming to their fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son. Here is the one who was promised, who would come to not just bruise the serpent, but to crush his head and fatally wound him and destroy his power so that we as believers might know something of the image of the Godhead being restored in us, in our lives and hearts and experience. I ask you, my friend, The beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ seen in you as day by day you live for him, as day by day you work for him. In your daily life, in your going around in Bedford and in your work and wherever you are, do your neighbors and friends see something of the beauty of the Lord Jesus in you? I remember I began, when I left school, I went into industry. I took an apprenticeship as an electronic engineer, and I trained as an electronic engineer. And while I was in industry, there was a man I met there. We'll just call him Stan. I won't give you his, well, he's died now, bless him, but he, I'll tell you more about it. But he was not a Christian, and he was quite vociferously antagonistic in the beginning when I first met him. And I was speaking to him one day and challenging him a little about these things and he turned to me and he said, Ian, he said, there is something different about the real Christian. You can always tell if a person is a real Christian or not, he said. And I was greatly encouraged to hear him say that because he was at that time still a blaspheming, godless man. Now, after I finished my apprenticeship, I left the company and I went to Bible college and I trained for the ministry. And then some years later, I discovered that Stan had become a Christian. Amazingly, amazingly and wonderfully had become a Christian. And I'm not surprised in one sense. Because he'd seen the witness and testimony of Christians around him. Genuine Christians. Now he'd seen a lot of people who called themselves Christians and he had nothing but contempt for them. But his comment to me I thought was so revealing. There's something different about the real Christian. You can always tell if they are real or not. Do your people around you say that of you? What a wonderful thing it would be if that were the case. Now these words that are given here, we beheld his glory, the Greek word that is used there, Grim Theor is one of the Greek dictionaries and analyzers, and he says, or they say in their commentary, what this word means, holy, filled, and flooded with God. Holy, filled, and flooded with God. That was the Lord Jesus because he was God. The glory, the only begotten glory of God rested upon him because he was God. And yet in some way we can share in that, not filled, but grace upon grace. As our word tells us in verse 16, of his fullness have all we received and grace for grace, grace added to grace until our cup runs over. Spurgeon in one of his sermons gives the illustration of a man who had 200 pounds to give away. Now in Spurgeon's day, 200 pounds was a lot of money, a lot of money. And how he sent it to a poor preacher in amounts of five pounds at a time. And with each five pound came a note, more to follow, more to follow. Now, as I say, in those days, When my father was alive, he was paid, and that was much later than Spurgeon's time, he was paid £4 a week when I was a child. £4 a week, that was a good salary, alright? So to receive £5 in Spurgeon's days was a lot of money. More to follow, more to follow. What does God do? God gives you, as it were, his grace, but every time he gives it to you, he says, there's more to follow, more to follow. That's wonderful, isn't it? That's wonderful. How humbling. as we realize what God has done for us. You see, this is not just lofty and abstract, this is practical, this is personal. What more proper study is there than this? God's grace and truth. Why, oh why, is there so little effect of this upon my life, I ask myself? Why are there not more results to this wonderful fullness that we have received in him? It seems microscopic compared with what he has done for me. Grace upon grace. The early Christians were those who turned the world upside down. Why? Because the power and grace of God was seen upon their lives. They were gripped by the truth of the gospel. They were overwhelmed by his love and grace. Again, why, oh Lord, such love to me? So what should be the effect of this fullness, this grace that we have received and grace for grace? What should be the effect of this glory upon us? Well, let me suggest three things to you this morning. Firstly, reverence. Reverence. This is the God with whom we have to do. John, the aged apostle, shows great reverence for the Word of God. You'll remember in his epistles, which he writes later, obviously he speaks of these things. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life. And he goes on to speak about the way in which that word was manifested, that eternal life, which was with the Father and manifested to us, that which we have seen and heard we declare to you. Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ, and these things write we unto you that your joy might be full. What an incredible Blessing that is. Peter in 2 Peter chapter 1, I won't stop to read it and expound it in detail now, but in 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 16 says, we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. an overwhelming sense of the presence of God. Grace revealed, communicated, imparted, shared with all the saints. My friends, have we become so used to the salvation that we have lost the sense of wonder and glory? In the Old Testament, the Shekinah glory came down and surrounded the mercy seat and could only be seen once a year by the high priest. But now God tells us that his light shines in the faces of his people. We beheld his glory full of grace and truth. Now we may not have seen him in the flesh heal the sick and hush the winds and the waves or feed the multitudes or cast out demons or raise the dead. But my friends, we have seen his spotless holiness and purity. We have seen all that he has revealed to us of his boundless love and wondrous grace and superlative truth. Isaiah writes, does he not, as he describes the coming Messiah, he says, his name shall be called Wonderful. Wonderful. Is the Lord Jesus Christ wonderful to you, my friend? Are you so overwhelmed with his grace and love? He didn't come to tell us about grace. He is grace. He didn't simply come to tell us about truth. He is the truth. All the fullness of a Godhead dwells in him. He is the fountainhead itself. As Spurgeon says, truth steeped in love and saturated in mercy. So how are you beholding this glory, this grace and truth? So often just with a casual glance of a passerby, or with reverence and awe and wonder. When he died for the sins of men upon the cross, the world didn't want to know. Caesar carried on in Rome without probably even knowing of the events. The historians, the secular historians, hardly refer to the cross of Christ. And yet, my friends, this was the most shattering fact of all history. which demands study and calm reflection and observation. We beheld his glory. Now many saw him while he was on earth, but few beheld his glory. It's very interesting how John describes this here. And the word was made flesh and dwelt amass. And some have illustrated it as a little bit like this, and I think that is the case. It was a little bit like an eclipse. Have you ever seen an eclipse of the sun? Back in, was it 1999? I think, I can't remember the exact year now, but maybe it was a bit later than that, maybe it was 2000. We were down in St. Ives in Cornwall at the time, and there was the time when the total eclipse of the sun came over. And we were all expecting to watch this. And we got all our darkened glasses and everything else. And then, blow me, it was a dull day. And the clouds were all over. But, my friends, to live through an eclipse is quite a fantastic experience. And though it was dull and we couldn't see the sun, we could feel the effect of the eclipse. And I can remember standing. And it almost put goosebumps in the back of my neck. Do you understand? As you suddenly find in the middle of the day that it goes almost completely dark. As the moon comes in front of the sun. Now we didn't of course see this actually in St Ives because as I say it was a cloudy day. Most people were very upset about that because we'd all hoped to be able to see it in its glory. But you know what happens when the moon goes in front of the sun? At the actual point of the total eclipse, the sun is completely blotted out by the moon. But what you see around the edge of the moon, and I've seen pictures of this, and I've seen videos of this, and maybe you have, what you see, you see flashes of the sun. from behind the moon. And there is a sense in which this is what is happening here. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Here is God the Son in all the glory of His Godhead. And as it were, the veil of His humanity comes between Him. As it were, don't misunderstand me. My theology and understanding of the Incarnation, I hope, is orthodox and everything. So don't take this the wrong way. I'm not saying that it was just simply that. But there is a sense in which those words of him veiled in flesh the Godhead see are true. That's the sense of it. Of course he was fully God and fully man, perfectly God and perfectly man, and I'm not taking away from that. But there was a sense in which his humanity veiled his Godhood. But the disciples knew, and they saw flashes, as it were, of his Godhead shining out. We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. You get the picture? I hope you do. I see one person nodding. I hope the rest of you get it and understand what I'm trying to say. Here is God. in all the glory of his grace. And that's why at the crucifixion, the climax of God's condescending grace, Al Martin describes it like this. Professor Reverend Al Martin of the States describes it like this, I think, so wonderfully. It was as though God pulls a black curtain across the sky, lest we gaze upon God the Son as he bears our sin upon the cross of Calvary. That is not for us to even gaze upon. It's not that it is secret, but it is too awesome, too awesome. And God the Son, fully God and fully man, bears away our sin in his cross on our behalf. My friends, that is revolutionary. That is the only word for this sin-sick world. This glorious news, the glory of God that rests upon us. We, if we are believers, have seen his grace and truth. When last of that calls you to bow down and worship in reverence at his feet, bow with holy reverence and holy fear and solemn reverence. Secondly, it should surely drive us to humility, reverence, humility. What is John's witness? Verse 15, John bear witness of him and cried saying, this was he of whom I spoke. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. What is the acknowledgement of John? Humility. What does he say later? He must increase, but I must decrease. We see this, don't we, in the early chapters of the Gospels. In Luke 2, verse 20, we see the reaction of the shepherds. What do they do as they come to the manger? They worship, they worship. What does Simeon do as he takes the babe in his arms in the temple? He worships. What do the wise men do as they come to the child in the house? They worship. They worship. Humility. is the hallmark of the child of God. And even in Luke chapter 2 and verse 51, we read that our Lord amazingly was subject to Mary and Joseph. And he demonstrated that. He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them. But his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. He humbled himself. Paul tells us he humbled himself even unto death upon the cross. But here is his humbling as he submits to Mary and Joseph. Follow his example of humility. What is Job's reaction as he sees the light of God's glory? I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. Isaiah's reaction as he sees the glory of the Lord. Woe is me for I'm a man of unclean lips. Humility is a realization of our own unworthiness that we are utterly inadequate without His power. My friend, have you seen the glory of God like this? Maybe you have never done so. May you today see something of the glory of God and humble yourself under His mighty hand and recognize your sinfulness and cry to Him to save you. Now this fullness does not run out with the passing of the years. What does John say in verse 16 of his fullness? Have all we received and grace for grace. It is just as full as when John wrote. Christ's power to save is just as strong. We can only be filled if we are empty before him, humbled before him. Come for God's grace with empty hands, emptied of self to be filled with him. Grace upon grace, the grace of repentance, the grace of contrite hearts, the grace of broken hearts before him, to be fully conformed to his image, grace that expands in our hearts, to make room for more of his grace, till we are overwhelmed by him, till the windows of heaven are opened, and he pours us out a blessing that there is not room enough to contain it. We sang about it in our hymn a moment or two ago, did we not? Plenteous grace with thee is found, grace to cover all my sin. Let the healing streams abound, make and keep me. Pure within. That's the prayer of a man, a woman, a boy or girl who is humbled under the mighty hand of God. Reverence, humility. Thirdly, urgency. Urgency. At the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, God erupted into mankind's life. God is manifest in the flesh. This message was and is revolutionary. In fact, the early believers were called revolutionaries. They turned the world upside down. They were full of zeal. There was an urgency, a fervency about their preaching and about their witnessing. Why? Because grace leads to truth, a longing and a desire for the truth and to spread that truth. Why? Because we are men and women with a message of hope for a hopeless world. Now it saddens me that there are men and women and boys and girls who sit under the sound of the gospel week by week, week after week and never do anything about it. To hear sound exposition and fervent preaching and never get the vision of the urgency of this gospel. Men are dying without Christ, they are going to hell. Early believers were on fire to spread the gospel. They were all out and out for God. Paul's commission to Timothy, preach the word in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exalt. I ask myself, as I ask you, please forgive me, maybe you are all fully committed, but I ask myself, I challenge myself, where is my sense of urgency, of purpose, of zeal, as I see men and women going to hell without Christ, to be ever shut out of his presence, cut off from all that is good and kind and beautiful and pure and holy. My friends, what an encouragement for us to stand for God and live for him, to share something of this fullness which all we have received and grace upon grace. When I was a youngster, we were taught many little choruses. Some of them were good, some of them were less so, but many of those ones in which I was brought up on were actually, although they were short choruses, they were deep with theology. and they had much to remind us of the truths of God's word. I wish that some of the choruses people sang today were as full of the word and truth of God. This is one, and it said this, let us then be up and doing, strong in faith and scorning fear, trusting him to keep us faithful in his service here. My friends, that was such a challenge to me as a youngster. Remember Moses' words to Israel, we read them in our Old Testament reading this morning. He challenged the people of God, and he said that if you hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if you turn unto the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, For this commandment which I command you this day is not hidden, it's not far off in heaven, it is near, it is with you, it is very near. See, I have set before you this day life and good and death and evil. And he goes on to say later, I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death and blessing and cursing, therefore choose life. that both thou and thy seed may live, that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him, for he is thy life and the length of thy days. This is not hard, this is not restrictive, this is glorious, this is wonderful, this is liberating. Oh, that God would come again and intercede and erupt into this sin-sick world. that we may be shaken out of our complacency, that men and women may be stopped in their tracks, convicted by the power of God, seen in our lives and in our witness. Of his fullness have we all received and grace for grace. May we, as we were saying earlier to the youngsters, Be men and women who will reflect the glory of God, the light of the gospel of the grace of God into the lives and hearts of men and women around us, that they too may receive of this fullness and of this gospel and find salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ.