Please remain standing and turn to John chapter 1. This is the second of two parts trying to walk through verses 1 through 18 in John's first chapter of his gospel. The prologue, as it might be called. It's a passage verses 1 through 18. It really deserves far more than two sermons, but we were able to get as far as verse 13 a couple of weeks ago. We'll finish from verses 14 to 18 this Sunday. But please hear the Word of God as I read from John 1, verses 1 through 18. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. This man came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe in him. He was not that light but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which coming into the world gives light to every man. He was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own did not receive him. But as many as received him to them, he gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 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. 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. And of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, or the only begotten God, bosom of the father he has declared or revealed him this is the word of god may god by his spirit teach us and convict us according to his will this morning you may be seated as i'd said two weeks ago we began to walk through what we call the prologue of john's gospel verses 1 through 18 in chapter 1 and unlike the other gospels which which Andy read from one of the other gospels. The other gospels begin with accounts of Christ's earthly being and purposes. John's gospel, in contrast, begins with Christ's eternal being and eternal purpose in the opening 18 verses, which we just read. John begins his gospel in the beginning, which means before time and creation, just as Moses began Genesis chapter 1. to show Christ's fullness of being and purpose in his coming. And in doing so, we see not only the beginning and the creation of Genesis 1 hinted at, because the word Christ is the creator of all things, but we also see a new beginning and a new creation of Christ in John chapter 1, as the Gospel of John explains throughout. And these first 18 verses of John set the stage and the themes for the entire Gospel of John as the truths of Christ's eternality, his deity, his revealing of and his unity with the Father and of his glory are presented in themes of life and light and darkness and witness and the world and his rejection. But then faith and the new birth are introduced all in these first 18 verses. But most of all, we see the subject of the prologue is the eternal word of God. who is the Son of God, who became flesh, to give life to those who would believe on His name, which is the theme of the whole Gospel of John. John's Gospel basically ends in the end of John chapter 20, but these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life, life in His name. If you look inside your bulletin, There is an outline, both of what we did two weeks ago, but then of what we will look at today. And when we introduced this passage, the 18 verses, we said it would take two sermons. But we said all 18 verses could be outlined with what you see in your bulletin. First, the first five verses would be emphasizing the Word. Introducing who is this Word? Well, the Word is eternal. He's self-existent. He's the Creator God. The Word was God from eternity. without beginning. He's with God as the Son, face to face with the Father, in a perfect relationship with the Father in the triune Godhead. But He's also the Creator of all and the source of all life and light. That's just the first five verses where we see the Word. Then in verses 6-8, we see the Word's witness. We see then John the Baptist being spoken of, the one who is sent as a witness to the Word. And the Word's witness was John the Baptist who is prophesied in the Old Testament He was called by Jesus as the greatest of all prophets. I think he was mentioned to clarify that he had come. His audience at the time, John's audience, may have wondered, has the forerunner come? And that means that Christ had come. And Christ is greater than the witness. He's greater than John the Baptist. Then in verses 9 through 13, we see the words world. The word's world, the word came into the world that he created yet because of the sin of man, it was now fallen. And the word came, but he was rejected by the world that he created. And he, he was not known by the world and his own, his own family did not receive him. Yet those who are born of God who received him, believing on his name to those, he gave the right to become children of God with all the blessings of justification, adoption, and sanctification. And that took us to verse 14, which we had to stop there because there's only so much time. But the last section of verses 1 through 18 would be the word is with us, which is what we'll look at today. The word is with us, and therefore he is to be worshiped. But we stopped with verse 13 a couple of weeks ago, invited all to repent of their sin and receive this Christ, and we still call you to repent of your sin and receive this Christ and all the blessings that flow from it. But John wasn't done, so we're not done. We have to look at verses 14-18. So that's what we'll look at today. I think what we can do is look at verses 14-18 with the same outline, but yet one level deeper. I think we can recapitulate the outline, just like it's best to understand Revelation as a recapitulation of the same events, but further in and further in. More information is given as we do that. I think the same thing happens here. As we look at verses 14-18, we have the same idea of the Word, the Word's witness, the Word's world, And then finally, the Word is with us. And so we'll look at v. 14 where John brings us back to defining the deity of the Word, yet now he makes it plainly clear of the incarnation of the Word. And when we look at that first verse, that first verse, v. 14, that's enough for several sermons in itself, but it's just part of the sermon today. But we'll see three important verbs I want you to carry away which is became, dwelt, and beheld. But then three important attributes the word's glory, his grace and his truth. Then John brings us back to the word's witness. We come back to John the Baptist. And now John shows that John the Baptist did come and yet Jesus still is greater than him. And then in verses 16 and 17, we see the word's world. But now instead of the word coming into the world and being rejected by most, now we see the fruits that come from a light entering into the world The fruits are abundantly received by those who are born of God. We'll see the fullness of His grace upon grace, and we'll see His grace and truth. And then finally, with verse 18, we close with a summary, which is the Word is indeed with us. As John gives one final summary of the begotten Son who's revealed as He comes, and He is indeed to be worshipped. So let's look at verse 14, and we'll again come back to the Word. Verse 14, a glorious passage. 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. Here in this verse, in verse 14, I think we have Scripture's most concise statement on the incarnation of our Lord. We have the climax of God's condescending grace as well. The incarnation has been hinted at in the prologue. We know that the word came, but now we know what's going on in detail, concisely. It's clearly stated now. I think it was William Hendrickson said, we see the climax of God's condescending grace. And the point is that we've already seen in John chapter one, that the world did not know him. And the son knew that would be the case when he came. It was not a surprise to the sovereign God-man. And his own, his own family, his own people did not receive him. But he comes anyway into a midst of ungrateful humanity to manifest the divine supreme love, grace, and truth that would save them. The son came from his eternal delight in the very presence of the father, the perfect relationship with his father, and he willingly descends into this realm of misery to save we who had no reason to be saved. Literally, when it says dwelt among us, it means he pitched his tent while among us for a while to save us, though we were undeserving and helpless. So we think of Hark the Herald Angels Sing, veiled in flesh, the Godhead see he comes to redeem his people from their sin. And I said earlier that this verse could easily spawn multiple sermons, but we'll just do part of one. And I want us to focus on three verbs and three attributes. And the three verbs would be become, I should say became, dwelt, and beheld. And the word became flesh, became. And it's not the word became flesh as in he ceased to be as he was before, because nothing before was lost or changed. It's not as if there's a change to his existing eternal divine nature. When it says the word became flesh, it means the son assumed a full and true human nature. without laying aside his eternal divine nature. He remains the word with and as God, but now he is the human nature and the divine nature united into one person with two natures unmixed, unchanged, and not confused." And inside your bulletin, there's an insert. And inside the insert, there's a listing of three catechism questions. There's also the Nicene Creed, which we'll refer to in a little bit. Normally we sing this, but I think today we'll just read it. But I think our Baptist catechism summarizes it well. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery? And the answer is God having out of his mere good pleasure from all eternity elected some to everlasting life and did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer. And that begs the question, who is the Redeemer of God's elect? The only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man. And so was and continueth to be God and man in two distinct natures and one person forever. And how did Christ, being the Son of God, become man? Christ, the Son of God, became man by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul. It was a true human nature is what we're speaking of. being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary and born of her, yet without sin. This is the word became flesh. He had to be a man to live and die for men to save us, but he had to be God to atone for and to propitiate the infinite sin and wrath that we then deserve. In Genesis chapter four, I'm sorry, in Galatians chapter four verse, 3 through 5, we read, even so, when we were children, we were in bondage under the elements of the world. But in verse 4 of Galatians 4, when the fullness of the time had come, in our closing hymn we'll say, late in flesh appearing, it means at just the right time, God sent forth his son. He was already the Son, but he was sent forth by the Father, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law and its condemnation, that we might receive the adoption of sons. In 1 John 4, which is one of the several places where John speaks of Christ being the only begotten in both his gospel and in 1 John. In 1 John 4, verse 2, We read, every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. And in verse 7, in 1 John 4, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this, the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. He was eternally the begotten son of the father, but he was sent, he took on flesh, that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. I like the way John ends, beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Point is that the son was eternally God, and is eternally God, but he was sent by the Father to take on flesh, reminds us of Isaiah 9.6, that unto us a son is given, and unto us a child is born, to redeem us and then to make us like him. So the word became is important. And became means that The human nature of our Savior came into existence. That was not what the Word was. The Word always was, but His human nature became. It came into existence. Yet His human nature is now permanent. He is forever the God-Man-Savior. Can you fathom that? The Son took on flesh, two natures in one person forever? That we might be redeemed from our sins and be changed forever? The word flesh sometimes has a negative connotation in the scriptures as in sinful flesh, but here flesh means his human nature. But it's a human nature with weakness. In his deity, there is no weakness. In his divine nature, there's no weakness. But when he takes on a human nature, now there's weakness. Because in his human nature, he suffered weariness, and pain, and misery, and even death on our account with the curse due to sin resting upon him, though he's without sin. A beautiful thing, though, is though his human nature is permanent and it's weakened in the beginning, it's not in a permanently weakened condition because the next line, and the word became flesh. Now became flesh forever and dwelt among us, which now is more temporary. He dwelt among us for a time. as the weakened God-man, Savior. Because we do know that when He came, He conquered sin, death, and hell. He ascended into heaven and took His rightful place on the throne with a glorified body without weakness. The same glorified body that we will have in the end when we see Him as He is and we rejoice in that. And He dwelt among us. The word dwelt means pitched a tent in the midst For a time, it literally means he tabernacled with us, tabernacled among us. The sun took on a human nature to dwell in our midst for a time. Of course, he ascended victoriously as the glorified God-man. And tabernacled among us has the theme of God with us. Immanuel, God is with us. He dwells with us just as the tabernacle in the wilderness dwelt in the midst of the people, which represented God's presence, his glory in the midst of his people. That's why when we first labeled verses 14-18, this last section was labeled, God is with us, let's worship Him. Because Christ tabernacling with us, I think is meant purposely by John to reference the tabernacle and all that is surrounded that and Christ fulfills it perfectly when He comes. We see references in verses 14-18 of His glory. It reminds us of the Shekinah glory of God. And the glory of God entering into the tabernacle in the temple when all things were finished. We see references to Moses in the law. We see references to grace and truth, which should remind you of the Lord's proclamation of himself to Moses. We saw it in Psalm 98 when he read. He says to Moses in Exodus 34, 6, and the Lord passed before him and the Lord proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious. That's his grace. Long-suffering abounding in goodness and truth. That's his truth. So Christ's coming in grace and truth is fulfilling even the attributes of God himself surrounding all of the things that are associated with the tabernacle. Again, John purposely puts forth Christ as God in John chapter one, who condescends to be with his people to save them, fulfilling all that the tabernacle and the elements in the sacrifices represent surrounding the tabernacle and the table. There's a labor of washing. Well, that's Christ. He's the one who cleanses from sin. There's the altar of sacrifice outside the tabernacle. He's the altar of sacrifice, the once for all sacrifice for sin. He's the showbread. He's the bread of life. He's the lights. He's the light of the world. He's the incense that's burning in front of the Holy of Holies that gives us access to God. In fact, he's the veil that separates one from the Holy of Holies that was torn in two as his flesh was torn. He's the mercy seat inside the Holy of Holies which his blood is sprinkled to cover his people from their sins. Christ tabernacles with us as he dwells with us. So we see became, we see dwelt, and then we see, and we beheld his glory. We beheld his glory. That would be the third verb if you're keeping track. We beheld his glory. Now it's the blessing that we have. We beheld his glory. Those who saw him in his first coming beheld the word who became flesh and dwelt among them. And the word beheld means careful, deliberate vision which regards the object and reflects upon it with care. Yes, there's physical sight involved in it, yet it's far more than that. It involves contemplating, even wonderment of what we are seeing and every once in a while understanding. And John is saying that while Jesus was walking among him and his brethren, their eyes and minds were resting on the incarnate word of God. Until occasionally, perhaps to some extent, they penetrated the mystery, the veil of flesh to see the deity and the glory and the radiance of his grace and truth manifested through Christ in his words and his works and his attributes. They beheld his glory. We see that in Jesus works that his glory was shown in John chapter 11. Twice, Jesus says, if you believe, You will see the glory of God through me as I raise Lazarus from the dead. In John chapter 2 and verse 11, after the first sign that John records, which is the turning of water into wine at the wedding, John writes this beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. In John chapter 12 and 13 and 17, we find that on the cross, the son was glorified and God was glorified. in him and with him. And his glory was shown through his works. His glory was shown through his words. He repeatedly, it was repeatedly said, no one has ever spoke with such authority before. And his words of grace and truth matched his works of grace and truth. And they beheld his glory. With Christ. The attributes of attributes of deity were shining through the veil of his human nature. Someone even looked to the Mount of Transfiguration where he actually peels back his flesh somehow so his glory is revealed and his glory was beheld and it was a glory to behold. But it's nothing like the glory we will see when we see him as he is, as he returns and we're raised from the dead and given glorified bodies and sinless souls. Now we're matched with our sinless bodies and we will see him as he is without anything between and we will behold his glory. And it will be an eternity before we can even think of being tired of such a thing. So we have became and dwelt and beheld. Now we have three attributes that John lists here. Glory and grace and truth. We've already spoken of the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. The glory as of the only begotten of the Father. But His glory is the manifestation of His majesty and worth and His deity as God. God's glory is the manifestation of the majesty and worth and deity of God. It has the idea of it's the weightiness of God is shining through when we see His glory. And the point here is when John says, the glory is of the only begotten of the Father, the point is that this is Only is what is to be expected from the one who is the only begotten from the Father. He is the word from eternity past. He's the only begotten of the Father. What do you expect but to see glory and to behold it? That brings us to the idea of the word begotten. It's a hard word in our study hour. We keep coming back to it and hopefully it will eventually make sense to us. So we'll come to it again. He's the only begotten of the Father. The Greek word is monogenes. It means unique, one of a kind. It literally means one of a class. It means the son is one of a kind in his class. There's only one like him who's the eternally generated son of the father, the eternal begotten son of the father. He's eternally begotten from the father by his eternal nature. He's of the same essence of the father. If you're the same essence of God, then you are God. And so obviously now we're putting our toes into the Trinity. We can't understand it all perfectly, but it's a glorious thing. And so from all eternity, the Father communicates the one simple undivided divine essence to his Son without beginning and without end. It just is. The word begotten is a wonderful way to get across the point of the equality of the father and son, their equal in power and glory in essence, but also their distinctiveness. There are two persons in the Godhead, as well as to express the intimate relationship between them. The son is called son because he's eternally from the father. You got all this. When we use the word beget, speaking of humans, of men, to beget, human-wise, if I can use that phrase, is to create one of the same nature, but distinct from oneself. But notice there's a creating of one, something that didn't exist before. That's when it's in human terms, creating one of the same nature, but distinct from oneself. When we speak of the begotten son, or later in verse 18, the best rendering is he's the begotten God, with God to beget. With God who is eternal, who's unchangeable, who has no beginning or end and always is, the emphasis is on the same eternal divine essence and distinct persons, but without any creation or beginning or subservience or two distinct wills. In your bulletins and inside, the insert in your bulletin, there's the Nicene Creed from the fourth century. What I've tried to describe was a key passage in the Nicene Creed. And if it printed out well, there should be a box around the part I'm going to read. Yes, we believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and all things visible and invisible. But then it says, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, Begotten of the Father before all worlds, means eternally begotten. There's no beginning. He's God of God. He's very God of very God. Light of light. God is light. The sun is light. Same essence. Very God of very God. It should remind you of, O come all you faithful, which we'll sing at the end of our worship as well. This is where that comes from. Begotten but not made. That's key. He was begotten, but unlike you and me, He was not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made. This is the only begotten Son. Back to the Scripture, Jesus repeatedly declares, especially in John's Gospel, that he came from God. And when he says, I came from God and God sent me, it implies his eternal generation, his eternal begottenness from the Father But yet He takes on flesh and He's sent into the world. There's two things there. One has no beginning, the other does. So in John 1.14.18 and John 3.16.18 and 1 John 4.9, the Apostle John describes Christ as the only begotten Son from eternity. He's already begotten before the incarnation and then He's sent into the world. As we read in 1 John 4.9, The love of God was manifested toward us that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. In John 16, verse 27, Christ says, For the Father loves you because you love me and have believed that I came forth from God. I've been eternally generated from God. I came forth from the Father and I've come into the world. I've been sent. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father. He's going to return and He has. In John 6, 46, which will remind you of the very end of these first 18 verses. In verse 44 in John 6, Jesus says, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up at the last day. In verse 46, Jesus says, not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God. He has seen the Father, which that means me or Jesus. Only the one who is from God can truly know God and see God as he is. Not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God. He has seen the Father. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. In John chapter 7, Jesus says, but I know him, speaking of God the Father, for I am from him and he sent me. He's the eternally begotten son of the father. With the glory that represents that. And then in verse 14, we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth, full of grace and truth. Again, a sermon in itself in those, in those five words, the word full means complete. There's no lack. It's not just a dribble of grace and truth, it's full of grace and truth. The son's words and works were filled with the unmerited favor. They were needed for the guilty and for healing and for life itself, the word himself is the truth, he's the way and the life and the truth, and he's the reality and the truth to the shadows and the prophecies that preceded him. And the word became flesh. manifest fully the hesed mercy, the grace, and the faithfulness of our God that we repeatedly see in the Old Testament. He is grace and truth. And we'll revisit the idea of grace and truth before we finish. But we have three more verses to go through. Actually, four more verses to go through. So now look to verse 15, and we've seen the word again, but now emphasizing He became flesh. Now we go back to the words Witness, in verse 15, John bore witness. We're back to John the Baptist, the one who witnessed for the word. 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. what the Apostle John is doing. He's now turning back to the witness of John as he did in verses six through eight. Remember when we looked at this a couple of weeks ago, I was like, why does he now stop to look at John? We're in the midst of talking about the word of God, but now we're going back to John the Baptist, who's the witness. But I think now the Apostle John is going back to elaborate on verses six and eight, six through eight, but also on verse 14, which we just saw to show that John the Baptist did indeed come And Jesus still is greater. Just as John came to bear witness of the light that through him we might believe in that light, but he was not the light. That's verses six through eight. Now we see John the Baptist is the one who did bear witness to the light. And basically what's given in verse 15 is a summary what John would later be proclaiming if you actually read the whole chapter 1 of the book of John. You would see what's being said in verse 15. It's surrounding John's baptism, but I think also his baptism of Jesus. You can go ahead and look down to verse 26 in John chapter 1 if you want to, because that's basically what's being summarized here in verse 15. In John chapter 1, starting verse 26, We read, John answered, speaking of John the Baptist, saying, I baptize with water, but there stands one among you whom you do not know, speaking of the word who now has come. It is he who coming after me is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. You see what's being said? He's coming after me, but he's preferred before me. In other words, in time, the word became flesh, and in time, he was born after John the Baptist was, and his ministry starts after John the Baptist. He's coming after me because John the Baptist was preceding him, but he's preferred before me. He has a higher rank. He has a higher superiority, a priority. He's before me. Why? Because his sandal strap, I'm not even worthy to loose. In fact, he says, why should I be baptizing you? He's before me, though he comes after me. You get it? And then he says, these things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. And then the next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, behold, he's beholding his glory. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said after me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me, which is basically what's quoted in verse 15. He comes after me. In his human nature, he's preferred before me because he's of a higher rank and he's superior. For he was before me, which means he existed before me as the word who eternally was begotten from the father. Speaks of his deity. And John goes on to say, I did not know him, but that he should be revealed to Israel. Therefore, I came baptizing with water. And John bore witness, saying, I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and he remained upon him. This is when Jesus was baptized. I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, upon whom you see the spirit descending and remaining on him, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit, which is unto newness of life. And I have seen, John the Baptist says, I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God. And so we read in verse 15, this is whom I cried out about, he who comes after me is preferred before me because he was before me. John did witness, and Jesus is still greater. He came after in his human nature, but he's preferred before him in his rank, and he was before John the Baptist because he's God. And you see a comparison again of Jesus to John, the God-man to a mere man, the comparison of the infinite to the finite, the eternal to the temporal, the comparison of the sun, who is the source of all light, to the moon who reflects that light. So we see the words witness again in verse 15. After seeing the word again in verse 14, and then verses 16 and 17, we come back to the words world, which is what we saw in verses nine through 13. And of his fullness, we have all received And grace for grace, but I think it's better rendered, and grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. It literally means came into existence through Jesus Christ. So with verses 16 and 17, we see John turns back to the word coming into the world. But the first time he did that in verses 9 through 13, he speaks of the word's rejection. by the world, even by his own, and says you must come to him in belief and receive him. But what happens in verses 16 and 17 now, looking at that again, the word in the world, but now we're actually seeing then the fruits that abundantly are received by those who receive him, repent of their sin and believe upon him and receive him as their Lord and Savior. I think in verses 16 and 17, John elaborates on verses 9 through 13. What is it like when the light came into the world? But he also elaborates on verse 14 in the fullness of his grace and truth. And so we'll look at the fullness of grace upon grace in verse 16, and then we'll see grace and truth in verse 17. Verse 16 and of his fullness we have all received in grace upon grace. Again in verses 9 through 13, the light came into the world to give light to men, but the world did not know him and his own did not receive him. But now in verses 16 and following the begotten one became flesh. The God man came into the world that he created and for whom John the Baptist bore witness. And now in verse 16 is not just beheld, But he's received by his people who are born of him. That they may receive great benefit of the fullness of grace and truth. Those who are born of God in verses 12 and 13 have been given new life and they believe and they've received Christ and they have these benefits that flow and the benefits first are fullness of grace upon grace, a fullness of grace upon grace. And the word for fullness. In verse 16, it's similar to the word full in verse 14, but bigger. Or maybe you should even say bigger. Fullness has the idea of full, but not just complete like full is, but it's abundantly so, overflowingly so. It's an abundance of grace upon grace is what is being said here. Christ's glory is full of grace and truth. Since it's a glory of the only begotten one, it's an abundant glory of abundant fullness, and it's represented by a fullness and overflowingness of grace and truth to his people. It's a fullness, and when he says grace here, it's grace in the form of grace for grace is how it's rendered in the New King James. But I think it's better rendered grace upon grace. We have a fullness of grace upon grace through Christ when we come to him. It has the idea of constantly receiving grace without limit. It could be said it's grace in place of grace. Grace in place of grace. And Hendrickson says it could be represented by the Son has one manifestation of unmerited favor of God that's hardly gone when another one arrives to take its place. It just keeps flowing one after another. It's grace upon grace, like the waves that constantly follow one another to the shore. When the next wave arises, the last one subsides without fail, without limit. It's speaking about an incessant, limitless supply of grace. Brothers and sisters, that line, we have a fullness. of grace upon grace, that line is worth the price of admission for the whole sermon today. If that's the only thing you take away from the sermon today, rest in this. We have waves upon waves of grace that come without merit to us, but only by the merits of Christ. Our Lord redeems us by His grace. There's nothing we can do to deserve it. In fact, we deserve the opposite. He redeems us by His grace, and then He continues to nourish us and to cherish us by His grace, to keep us and to care for us, to discipline us and to mold us in His image, wave upon wave of grace that never runs out. And He continues to send waves of grace for His church to form his church into a holy spotless church to be presented to the father in the end. Remember 1st John chapter 4 verse 9 and following when we read, in this the love of God was manifested toward us that God has sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him. In this love, I should say in this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be a propitiation for our sins. And beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. As grace flows to us, wave upon wave, that same grace and love then should be flowing to others as well, in particular within the church. And then verse 17, not only have a fullness of grace upon grace, in verse 17, for the law was given through Moses. Now we're comparing the son with Moses. And what do you know? He's greater than John the Baptist. He's also greater than Moses. But grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Moses was a mere man. He was given the law. He didn't author it. But grace and truth came into existence through Jesus Christ. I think Jesus Christ is representing his humanity and his deity. Jesus was his earthly name of the Savior who would come to save us from sins. Christ represents the divine Messiah that he is. When he says, for the law was given through Moses, There's nothing wrong with the law. I think in this context we're speaking specifically of the moral law of God, represented by the Ten Commandments, that never changes, and the ceremonial law of God that was given to Israel to foreshadow and have types of the Christ that was needed to come to redeem the people from their sins. So there's nothing wrong with the law of Moses. It was moral and ceremonial. It was preparatory in its character. The law of Moses revealed man's lost condition and foreshadowed his deliverance. The moral law convicted sinners of their sin, and it still does. It's God's standard for righteousness that's unattainable by sinful man. The ceremonial law pictured what was needed to redeem sinful man, but yet the people could not do it themselves. Ceremonial law, speaking of all of the things around the temple and the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the pictures, the types and shadows that Christ would fulfill, and then it would no longer have to be done. So sinful man needed grace for sinner's pardon and help in time of need. They needed two things, grace for sinner's pardon and help in time of need. And secondly, they needed a fulfillment of the truth of the moral law and the truth and reality of the types and shadows pointed to by the ceremonial law. They needed both grace and truth. In Christ and his finished work, he furnished both. He merited the grace that was needed by sinners. He fulfilled the types and shadows and the truth that was pointed to by the ceremonial law. First, in Christ's active obedience to the law, he was perfectly righteous. And by grace, he imputes his righteousness to the one who repents and believes that they might be justified before God. You understand that to stand before God and to live, You have to have no sin and full righteousness. God demands not just no sin, but perfect righteousness. And I have news for you outside of Christ. You're full of sin and you have no righteousness. I'm not being mean, it's just the way we are. But Christ came that he might then fulfill the law perfectly into perfect righteousness. And then through his death, it would be a perfect death that then our sins could then be forgiven, atoned for, propitiated. And then when you come to him in repentance and faith, there's the great exchange. You say, oh, son, here is my sin. Take it. Nail it to the cross. He says, here's my righteousness. Be clothed with it. Oh, now, son and daughter of the Father, you can stand before God with me. So in his act of obedience, the law was perfectly fulfilled under perfect righteousness. And by grace, he imputes that righteousness to justify the believer. Secondly, Christ fulfilled all the types of the tabernacle. So all the tabernacle and all the things surrounding the tabernacle we're pointing to are now fulfilled in Christ, the altar of sacrifice outside of the Holy of Holies. He is the altar of sacrifice. He is the lamb that was slain to take away sin. Once for all, no more sacrifices for sin are needed. He's the laver of washing. When they went in, there's a laver with water that the priest had to wash themselves before all of these things. He's the only one that can wash away sin and to sanctify one to the end. He's the mercy seat of atonement. It's his blood that was shed to be a covering for a breaking of the law, the law of God that was inside the Ark of the Covenant that the mercy seat was covering because God's people had broken that law and there needed to be an atonement for it. Christ is the veil of the Holy of Holies that kept sinful man from being in the presence of God. And when Christ's flesh, his flesh veiling his deity, was torn on the cross unto death, the veil in the temple was torn in two from the top to bottom to give us access to the Father through him and him alone. And in this way, grace and truth came into existence through Jesus Christ by his person and his work, and it's abundant. It's incessant and it's free for all who would repent and believe and receive Him. Come to Him. Why would you not? That takes us to verse 18. I think what John does with the last verse, he summarizes everything. about the word who is with us and who should be worshiped. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten God, at the best rendering, is actually the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father. He has declared him. This word that we've been speaking about for 17 verses, now we have the 18th. He's the only begotten Son. Fully God, now fully man. Only he has seen God and lived, and only he can represent God and reveal God to sinners that they might be redeemed. He's in the bosom of the Father, speaking of the perfect relationship between the Son and the Father. What does it mean when it says no one has seen God? Well, the same language, we read that in John 6, 46, not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God, he has seen the Father. It's interesting, we've already mentioned the law being given through Moses. Moses was privileged to speak to God face to face. Do you remember that from Exodus, that he could speak to God face to face? Now it wasn't literally, but he was blessed with a relationship with God that others didn't have. And so Moses had a face to face relationship with God, yet he did not see God as what's being spoken of here. He did not know God in all of his fullness. If he would have, he would have died. He would have melted in his sin before a holy, righteous God. You could turn there if you'd like to in Exodus chapter 33, starting in verse 18, we have Moses communicating face to face with God, but not actually seeing him in his fullness. In Exodus chapter 33, starting in verse 18, And Moses writes, actually, since he wrote Exodus, in Exodus 33, verse 18. And Moses said to God, please show me your glory. We should have that attitude, but I don't think Moses knew exactly what he was asking for. But please show me your glory. It's in the context of saying we can't go forward without you, O God. We need you, your presence with you. Now he says, please show me your glory. And then God said, I will make all my goodness pass before you. And I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But God said, you cannot see my face for no man shall see me and live. God is holy. We are sinful. We cannot stand before him without a mediator. without the Word become flesh, who mediates between us. In verse 21, the Lord said, Here is a place by me, and you shall stand on the rock, so it shall be while my glory passes by that I will put you in the cleft of the rock. Do you understand what a cleft of the rock is? It's a section that's been dug out of the rock for a covering. And will cover you with my hand while I pass by. Then I'll take my hand and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen. But the son is the one who has seen God and reveals God. It's not merely that no one has seen God physically because God is not physical. He's a spirit. A form does not represent him. It's only possible for the son to see God who is himself God from God, light from light and perfectly holy. And yet, as we'll be singing in just a few minutes, yet He abhors not the Virgin's womb, which means He humbled Himself to take on a human nature from conception to redeem us, though He's very God. He's the Word who is very God, begotten, not created. He's the incarnate Word who is born one very morning when the angels rejoiced in great happiness. He's the Word of the Father who is late in flesh appearing. He came at just the right time as the God-man In a fullness of time sent by the father born of a woman and born under the law to redeem those under the law. So that in the only begotten son we see God revealed and declared in his glory and his grace and his truth. And since only the sun truly knows God only he can make him known to us he's our only hope for salvation then. And in our glorified state, we'll be fully redeemed by the Son, and we'll see Him as He is, and we actually will then be able to stand before God with nothing between us. What a glorious thing that is to look forward to. Maybe one quick thing. Why the bosom of the Father? I don't know if we speak of like that these days. Why the bosom of the Father? Why saying that He's in the bosom of the Father? Well, the phrase in the bosom of the father means a close, intimate relationship and fellowship with the father. It speaks of the unique relationship of the father and the son within the triune Godhead. So we're reminded again of who the word is and his relationship with the father. And only through him, we can have a relationship with God. And it reminds us when it says in the bosom of the father, it reminds us what the son left. I put that in quote marks. But what he did to condescend to save us, in a sense, he departed. His perfect harmony in the Godhead to become flesh and to know the enmity of the world for us. And we say glory for what a gracious Savior who would do such a thing. It also reminds us what He gives us in His grace and truth. He's in the bosom of the Father. It reminds us what He gives us in His grace and truth when we come to Him and we're redeemed by Him and born of Him. When we are redeemed, We read from John 17 and 1 John 4 that when we are redeemed, we also enter into that unique love relationship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with all others who are redeemed. And I don't understand this fully, but I like it. In some way, when you're redeemed from your sin, you're plunged into the love relationship of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and with one another who are believers who are also in the family of God. There's a sense we can at least have an intimate relationship with the Father because of the Son who's in the bosom of the Father. These are glorious truths, brother and sister and friend. But Christ and all these abundant blessings cannot be known unless you know Christ. So you must repent of your sin and trust your life and your soul upon Christ and his grace and truth. You must realize like Moses that you cannot see God and live. He is holy and you are a sinner. You need to be covered by Christ who is cleft for sinners like you. He was carved by God's wrath for his people so that his people could be put in the cleft of Christ and that wrath would pass over. And there's no condemnation for the one who's in Christ, because Christ covers his people from the wrath they deserve. He cleanses their sin and imputes his righteousness to them. And so we plead with you to bow down to the eternal son, condescend to the eternal son who condescended to take on flesh and become sin for sinners, that they might become the righteousness of God in Christ. Receive him by grace, receiving his grace. Let us pray. Dear Holy Father, what a glorious gospel, what a glorious God, what a glorious Son and Savior that you have sent to save we who have nothing in us that merits any saving whatsoever. Lord, may we see the abundance of your grace and your mercy and your truth and your glory in the only begotten Son of the Father. And Lord, those who are outside of Christ, those who don't know him. Well, we pray, Lord, by your spirit, you convict and work or that they'd feel the weight of their sin and the weight of their separation from you or God. Lord, that they would repent of their sin and put their faith in Christ, Lord, and they'd be justified before you. Adopted into your family. The beginning of their sanctification starting Lord. The process of becoming more and more like your son and longing for the day when they will see him again and be made like him in glory. Lord, for those of us who've had the sovereign mercy and grace to come to know you and repent and believe and know you as our Lord and Savior. Oh, Christ, help us to love you all the more. Help us to love you all the more and to rest in your grace upon grace, to seek out your truth upon truth and behold your glory. It's in Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.