a little bit of historical background to this time of the year that we know as Advent. In the Western Church, the Advent as an observable season began in about the fourth century. We see that, as I said before, the four Sundays in December are designated for a time of preparation for our souls for the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. That in and of itself is a good thing. I think it's right and proper that we do these things. One of the things that has happened with Advent is that, again, the observation of this time of the year, so that we might prepare for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. An older prayer book, the Book of Common Prayer, has this prayer for this time of the year. It begins this way for the first Sunday in Advent. And it reads as follows, Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness and put upon us the armor of light. Now in the time of this mortal life in which thy son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility, that in the last day he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead. We may rise to the life immortal through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost now and ever. Amen. Well, as I said before, I don't think that it's a wrong thing that we begin to consider this time of the year in keeping with Advent. I think that, again, that churches sometimes can be something of a slave to a calendar. We don't want to do that. But as I said before, in the day and age in which we live, with the Christian Witness dying. I think it's not a bad thing to consider this season of the year as advent and what I want to do today in our first And our first Sunday of the month is not only prepare for the Lord's Supper, but to use a passage of scripture that brings together both the incarnation and the Lord's Supper. And that's that great passage of scripture that we find in John, the first chapter, verse 14. So I'd like to ask you this morning to take your Bibles and turn to John chapter one, verse 14. And in this passage of Scripture, again, one of the great passages of Scripture when it comes to the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have the Apostle John setting forth in very dignified language, language that brings forth a world of theology we might say, and he sets forth in a very simple way the fact of the Incarnation. that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And so that will be the passage of scripture that we will consider here today. And so what I want to do right now is read John chapter one, and we'll read verse one through verse 18. John chapter one, verses one through 18. Please hear the word of God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him and cried, saying, this was he of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. And of his fullness we have all received, and grace for grace, for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." Well, this morning it is, I must say, my great pleasure and joy to present to you this passage of scripture where we see the Lord Jesus Christ as the eternal Word of God, coming into the human condition, taking upon himself a human nature, in order that all the sons of Adam might be redeemed through faith in him. This is one of the great effects of the incarnation, that through faith in God's promised son, through faith in the provision that God has made by way of Jesus Christ as the Messiah, all those who turned from their sins and looked to him in faith can be saved. What I want to do is I want to work through this passage of scripture in such a way to set before you a number of facts concerning the Incarnation itself. The first thing that I want to do with you this morning is to set before you what I would call the need for the Incarnation. There was a real need that God would become man because of the condition of sinful humanity, because of the great gap that existed between fallen man and a holy God. There must be one who could fill that gap, and the one who can fill that gap was none other than the eternal Word of God become flesh. The second thing I hope to do is to show to you the glory of the Incarnation. It is truly a glorious event. We might say again that it was the most glorious event in all of history, that the eternal Word of God would take flesh to Himself in order, once again, to redeem you and me. So we'll see the need of the Incarnation. We'll see the glory of the Incarnation. But thirdly, what I hope to do is to show you the effect of the Incarnation. What is the effect of the Incarnation? Of course, in one sense, we know that the effect of the Incarnation is that the eternal Word of God became flesh. True, yes. But the real effect of the incarnation is that sinners might be saved, that all those who look to this one would be saved from their sins. And then fourthly, what I hope to do in keeping with our observance of the Lord's Supper this morning, I hope to point out to you what we would call the symbol of the incarnation. We have the symbols of the incarnation set before us on the table, and the symbol of the incarnation is the bread and wine, which represent to us our Lord Jesus Christ giving himself in his body in order that we might be redeemed. So in this first Sunday of what we oftentimes call Advent, we will consider then the incarnation. of our Lord Jesus Christ. And again, all this will revolve around verse 14. Well, our doctrine that we'll consider, or the proposition that we will consider this morning is as follows. In the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the eternal word of God became, I'm sorry, excuse me. In the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the eternal word of God came into the world in a robe of flesh in order that sinners could be saved from their sins. I want to repeat that. In the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, The eternal word of God came into the world in a robe of flesh in order that sinners could be saved from their sins. I'm so glad this morning we sang again, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, that second stanza, Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see, Hail the eternal deity. This is what we see in the Incarnation. It is Charles Wesley putting the theology of the Incarnation in poetic form, veiled in flesh. Here was our Lord Jesus Christ come into the world, and when He came into the world, He came not in the splendor of His divine nature, but in a very picturesque way. We can incorporate the language of the Apostle Paul here. He took upon Himself the form of a servant. He robed Himself in the weakness of humanity. in order that he might bring about salvation for all those who look to him in faith. And so this is what we hope to do here this morning. By way of this doctrine or this proposition, once again that Jesus is, as the eternal word of God, came veiled in flesh in order to bring about the salvation for humanity. One of the things I want you to understand by way of the necessity of this doctrine or this proposition is that you need to really embrace or grasp the fact that you really cannot understand Christianity or the gospel apart from the incarnation. You see, the incarnation, if I can say it this way, is the miracle that makes the miracle of salvation possible. Were it not for the miracle of God coming into this world in the person of his Son, veiled in flesh, you or I could not be saved. And why is that? Because salvation is fundamentally and essentially a miraculous, gracious act of God on our behalf. Salvation is not that which you and I are able to work up in ourselves. I'm not able to so change my life morally as to bring about some kind of approval by God on my actions. You see, everything that I do is tainted with sin. Everything that I do is weighed down with this fallen humanity. But you see, in the Christian gospel, salvation is not something that individuals earn. Salvation is that which is graciously given. And the way or the reason why it can be graciously given is because it has been truly and fully purchased by Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ came into the world, He came into the world in order to provide for you and I everything necessary. that through our union with Him, we would now be acceptable in the sight of a holy God. God Almighty now can receive sinners such as ourselves. Why? Because through faith, we are united to Jesus Christ. That's why Paul uses that great language in the book of Ephesians, that we are accepted in the beloved. You're not accepted by God in yourself. You're not accepted by God on the basis of what you've done. You're accepted by God in His Son, Jesus Christ. The Father loves you because you are in His Son. And so again, this doctrine of the incarnation and the reasons for it are vitally, vitally important to understand the Christian gospel. And again, as I said before, if salvation is the work of man for himself, then no miracle is needed. But if a sinner understands that he or she cannot save themselves, and has failed in many attempts to save themselves, then he or she understands that only a miracle can make that possible. That I, as a sinner, in the sight of a holy God, can be saved, can happen only by way of miracle. And as I said before, the miracle of salvation is made possible because of the miracle of the incarnation. So when we speak of the incarnation, we're not speaking of just some abstract theological idea. We are speaking of the very means by which you and I are saved. You and I are saved because in a moment of time, in a period of time, the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glories of the only begotten of the Father. Well, as I said before, today then we'll consider the need for the incarnation. the glory of the incarnation, the effect of the incarnation, and then the symbol of the incarnation. Well, first of all, let's take a look at the need for the incarnation. It's very interesting. At this point, we can express the need for the incarnation in the way that we did somewhat in our introduction. We can speak in very general ways by way of the need of humanity to be saved and the impossibility of sinners to save themselves. We have to emphasize this over and over again. We really do. Because I fear that in our day, Christianity is being reduced to just another moral system, whereby an individual can be acceptable in a certain way. But that's not what Christianity is. Christianity, again, as I said before, is miraculous from beginning to end. This is why the natural man has such a difficult time with many of the chief articles of the faith. Because it involves miracle. It involves the miracle of, again, God saving sinners. Christ himself is the Word of God taking on flesh. But as we look in the text of Scripture that we read this morning, we see a number of reasons in the very text itself as to why the incarnation is necessary. And the first thing that I would say to you by way of the incarnation being necessary is what we see here in the passage of Scripture in John 1, verse 5. Look what it says here in John 1, verse 5. and the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." You see, the need for the Incarnation comes upon us because of the darkness of fallen humanity, because of the darkness in the world in which we live. And this is a point that is emphasized over and over again in the Scripture. that the world in which we live is a fallen world, that is a kingdom, we might say, of darkness. And this is seen not only in the passage of Scripture here, in chapter 1, verse 5. Again, there was this darkness, and the darkness was not able to overcome the light, but we see this in various places of Scripture. Again, we see it in a place like in Luke chapter 1, verse 79, which speaks of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in that passage, we read this, "...to give light to them that sat in darkness, in the shadow of death." You see, this was a reference to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He would give light to those who sit in darkness. In Acts 26, verse 18, when the Lord Jesus Christ commissioned the Apostle Paul, one of the things that he commissioned him to do was to bring this light to those who are in darkness. Acts 26, verse 18, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they might receive the forgiveness of sins. You see, this world in which we live is a morally and spiritually dark place. This is why Paul says in Ephesians 5, verse 11, when he writes to Christians and he appeals to them and he commands them even, and what does he say in Ephesians 5, 11? And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. You see, the world, a morally and spiritually dark place. Paul reminds us again in Ephesians 6, the intensity of this darkness that we find ourselves in, in this fallen world, when he lays out the reality of spiritual warfare. In Ephesians 6, verse 12, he says again, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. And again, spiritual wickedness in high places. You see, the need for the incarnation is because this world is a dark place. It is a morally and a spiritually dark place. And that's why the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world. He says so much himself. In John chapter 12, verse 46, we read this. I am come, a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. You see, here is the need for the incarnation. The Lord Jesus Christ himself taking upon himself flesh in order that he might come as a light into the world. The Apostle Paul picks up this very thought in Colossians chapter one when he writes as follows, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. Oh, aren't you glad that such a work was accomplished on your behalf? Such a display of divine power. There he was, veiled in flesh, the Godhead see. Yes, hail the eternal deity. He was doing a work that only the Son of God can do. And so we see, again, the need for the Incarnation is all bound up in the fact that this world is a dark place. Well, I think it's also very interesting when we consider the world as a spiritually and morally dark place. We also probably have enough awareness about the world in which we live to understand that there are probably not many outside of the professing Christian Church that would say that this world is a dark place. I think humanity, as it evaluates itself, would say that we live in a very enlightened day. I'm sure you've heard that very thing. And many people would probably be somewhat taken aback or even offended if you would say to them that society as we see it is a morally dark place. And they would probably say, this is not the case, that we live in an enlightened time. But what I would say to you is this. I think that the fallen world, as it believes that it lives in an enlightened time, has really come under something of a delusion, we might say. And I'm thinking of a passage of scripture that our Lord spoke in Luke 11, verse 34, when he says this, your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light. But when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. You see, I think that we live in a day that is very much like the time that Isaiah prophesied of. Woe to them that call evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light. And you see, society in our day, I think its eye is dim. I think its eye is dark. And rather than being able to see the light of the gospel, it is seeing its own sinful ways and tendencies and said, these are the things that are light. And again, we must say as the church of Jesus Christ, we must hold forth the word of life. we must again preach Jesus Christ coming to the world to save sinners as a light to deliver from the power of darkness. You see, the problem with humanity is that not only do we live in a morally and spiritually dark time in spite of what others might say, the real problem with our society, with our world, and with ourselves, other than except for the grace of God, is that by nature, man loves this darkness. By nature, humanity loves its sin. This is why it gets so offended when its sin is exposed. John chapter three, verse 19. And this is the condemnation, that light is coming to the world. How is light coming to the world? By way of the incarnation. Light is coming to the world. And men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. And so what we see here again is the great need for the incarnation. The other thing that we see here is that when we consider the world thinking itself to live in an enlightened day, we're reminded of the activity of Satan in this regard. We read in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 14, Paul says, and no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Oh, how much of the so-called moral light of this day is nothing more than Satan again. under this false disguise of light, showing that there is some morality that he has for this world. Oh, what a dark day we live in. We live in a day where evil is good and good is evil. We live in a day, again, where the things of God are purposely pushed aside. We live in a day where the world can point its finger and shake its finger in the face of God, and the world will say to God that our morals are better than yours. This is the day in which we live. You see, men love darkness rather than light. Oh, the need for the incarnation. Well, not only do we see the need for the incarnation because of the darkness in the day and age in which we live, we also see the need for the incarnation because of the helplessness of sinners. This is in the text as well. Look at John 1. But as many as received him, to them gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. You see, the reason why it was necessary for the son of God to become man is because in and of ourselves, we do not have the ability to save ourselves. You see, we were without power. And when we were without power, God came in power through His Son to save us. So not only is there the darkness of fallen humanity, there is also the inability of fallen humanity. In myself, I cannot do that which would please God. What does the Apostle Paul say in the book of Romans? That in me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing. And so here we are under this great liability. Here we are living in a morally dark world. Here we are with this spiritual inability. Oh, the need for the incarnation. And so all these things point us to, again, why we talk about the need for Christ to come into the flesh. But there's a third reason in this passage of Scripture why we see the need for the Incarnation. Not only the moral and spiritual darkness of our day, not only the inability that we all suffer under, but also the failure or the inability of the Law of Moses to save us. You see, the law could not save us. Isn't this what we see in the passage of Scripture again? John 1, 17. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. You see, the law, as good as it was, it was not able to save. The law could not change my nature. The law could only expose my nature. The law must be that which would point out in me my own sin and failure. And the law was designed again by God to do what? To lead us to Christ. And so in all these things, what are we observing? We are observing the fact that there is the need for the incarnation. Oh, you see, God himself must take up for you and me. And he has in the person of his son, when in that moment of time, the eternal word of God took on flesh and became man in order that he might die for sinners. And so all these things we see point us to our understanding of the need for the incarnation. The next thing I want you to consider with me is what we would call the glory of the incarnation. And this is a wonderful thing to consider, the glory of the incarnation. And it is, again, a most glorious thing that we are talking about. The fact that the eternal word of God, the word became flesh. Now, this is a wonderful designation for our Lord Jesus Christ, and it's very interesting that John doesn't write at this point that the Messiah became flesh. He doesn't write, again, that the Son became flesh. He certainly could have written that, but he wrote that the Word became flesh. And again, in that statement, we see something of the glory of the Incarnation. Because what it reminds us of is essentially this, that in the Incarnation, the very mind and will of God is not merely expressed, it becomes incarnate. It becomes visible. He comes, the Word of God comes in the flesh. The idea of Jesus Christ as the Word of God is a wonderful thing to consider. There was never a time, you know, that God was without his word. This speaks to the eternality of the word of God. And here is the word of God at the very expression of the mind of God. And so when the Lord Jesus Christ comes in the flesh, what we have, if I can say it this way, is the mind of God in the flesh. The will of God in the flesh. As your word is one with you, you might say. So the Word of God is one with His Father. And now the Word of God now becomes visible, becomes manifest. And what this informs us of is essentially this. This is why in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and this is why in the incarnation, we have the highest revelation that God could give to man. Oh, the glory of the incarnation. You see, you need no other manifestation of God other than the person of Christ already manifested. You need no other subsequent word from God given because you have the word of God manifest in the person of Christ. This is why, again, other religions that come on the scene and say, oh, there's a new revelation from God. There's no new revelation given from God. The revelation has been fully given in the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so what we see here is this glory of the Incarnation. And did you see it in the passage of Scripture there in verse 14? And the Word was made 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. Oh, you see, this is the great emphasis here in this opening chapter of John, is it not? that the one who becomes incarnate is none less than God himself. That's why John opens the way he does in verse one. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. How does John close up his, how does John close the gospel? He closes the gospel with the quotation of the words of Thomas, my Lord and my God. You see, here we see the person of Jesus Christ himself as the one sent from the Father. Over and over again, the Lord makes this clear in the Gospel of John, does he not? There he is in John chapter 8, being challenged by the religious authorities. There he is in John chapter 8 again, being challenged almost to the point of being stoned. And what does he say? Before Abraham was, I am. He identifies with God himself. And this was a great scandal to the minds of the Jewish leaders there. If you read that fifth chapter of John, what you see the Lord Jesus Christ very clearly doing is placing Himself on equal footing with God the Father. You see, it is the glory of the Incarnation that Jesus Christ comes to us as the eternal Word of God manifest in the flesh. This glory of the incarnation is picked up in other passages of scripture as well. Again, we think of the very well-known passage of scripture in Philippians chapter two, who being in the form of God, wonderful phrase there. The idea of who being, not who once was, not who was changed into, but who being, in other words, who right now existing in the form of God. God experiences no change in his nature, Jesus Christ was always God, is always God. But what does this one who is God, what does he do? Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but he humbled himself and came in the likeness of flesh. He humbled himself and he took on humanity. You see, what the eternal Son of God did was this. He took on humanity in order that in a human nature, He might provide for all of humanity the means whereby to be saved. Oh, the glory of the incarnation. This is why Paul says in 1 Timothy 3, verse 16, what does he say in that passage of scripture? For great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Great is the mystery of godliness. Oh, you see the glory of the incarnation. We can't speak enough of it. I can't sufficiently open it up or develop it for you here. We're thankful that men like Charles Wesley wrote what he did. Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see. Hail the eternal deity. Pleased as man with men to dwell. This is the glory of the incarnation. This is Christ taking up your cause. This is Christ taking up my cause. And so in this passage of scripture, again, we see the Lord Jesus Christ in the glory of the incarnation. When we think of the fact that the incarnation, as I said before, is Christ taking to himself a human nature, I want you to stop and consider something with me, and it adds to our appreciation for the glory of the incarnation. That in doing this, Christ is revealing to us a depth of love for humanity. that says, not only will I love you from afar, but I will love you by coming into your very experience. I will not love you from a distance. I will take on humanity itself in order to redeem you. That's the love of Jesus Christ for each and every one of you here. All the glory of the incarnation. Again, we read of this in Hebrews chapter one, don't we? And there is the writer of Hebrews exalting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners and times past, spake unto the fathers, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. The Word speaks, you see. The Word becomes incarnate. And there's this whole idea, again, in that first chapter of Hebrews is what you see, is that you see the very manifestation of God. in the person of Jesus Christ. Oh, the wonder and the glory of the incarnation. So we've seen the word, I'm sorry, we've seen the need of the incarnation. We're considering the glory of the incarnation. And consider again with me that little statement there in verse 14. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Dwelt among us. He stayed among us. He didn't just come and go, so to speak. He lived a life among us. And in that life, what did He do? He worked out full redemption for you and me. Everything that I was responsible for before God by way of the law, He fulfilled in my place for me. Oh, this wonderful Savior, the same for you. You see, this is why we preach Christ. Christ again is the Savior, the substitute for sinners. Oh, this wonderful one who we look at here today in the incarnation. And we see not only the need for the incarnation, but the glory for the incarnation. Well, one of the other things that's interesting here when we consider the glory of the incarnation is that the Lord Jesus Christ here is referred to, as I said earlier, the word. And I've given some indication as to the significance of that. The word, the very expression of the mind and the will of God. It's kind of interesting, though, is that when John, who writes the gospel, uses the word word, which is in the Greek, many of you know, the word Logos, he doesn't give it any definition. He doesn't explain it. And part of the reason for that is because the word Logos was a term that was current in the day in which John wrote. It was understood by the Hebrews, obviously. They would know Old Testament passages of Scripture, where we would read in the Bible, the word of the Lord came, and the word of the Lord did this, and by the word of the Lord were the heavens formed. You see, the word of the Lord was a reality. They knew there was a power to it. Again, in the beginning, God created, and what does God do? God spake, and that speaking of God was, again, the activity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Jews, the Hebrews understood the concept of the word, but the Greeks did as well. And for the Greeks, there was this philosophical grasp, we might say, of the word logos, that it was something of the intelligence by which the world was formed. It was something of the intelligence by which the universe was in existence. And so what John is saying is this. When he says the word became flesh, he was saying that both Jew and the Greek The very thing that you are understanding, how all things come into existence, has now become flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. And that's why John will say in verse three, all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In other words, John is setting forth Jesus Christ as the creator of all things, so that both Jews and Greeks understand the one who he's speaking of. Do you see the glory of the incarnation? Yes, the need of it, our sinful condition. Yes, the need of it, our darkened humanity. Oh, but the glory of it. Jesus Christ coming again as the word of God manifest in the flesh. Well, so much then for the glory of it. And the next thing I'd like to ask you to consider with me is the effect of it. What is the effect of the incarnation? What effect do we, what benefit do we receive by it? Well, the effect of the Incarnation, as I've been intimating all along, is the fact that you and I now have a Savior, a true Savior, a complete Savior, one who is fully able to save. You know, it's very interesting as the Church worked out the whole idea of what it meant for Jesus Christ to come. into this world in the incarnation. One of the things that was expressed was essentially this, that God himself, again, had to be the one who saves sinners. That sinners in and of themselves cannot save themselves. There is this inability. And yet, for man to be saved, a sufficient price had to be given. A sufficient price had to be paid. How could that happen since each and every one of us are in this place of debt before God? And it is in the wisdom of God that through the incarnation, he who is God would become man in order that as man, atonement might be made. It's not atonement by way of bulls and goats. It's atonement by way of the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, taking on flesh to himself. So the effect of the incarnation now is essentially this, that what we see here is our salvation now being made possible. But this is not the only thing that we see by way of the effect of the incarnation. A second effect of the incarnation is, is that the will of God is clearly known to us. The will of God, in the sense that as so far as God has intended to make it known, is now fully revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ. It is Christ, and in Christ alone, that we know the fullness of God's will. It's a wonderful thing that we see and understand. We don't have to go looking far and wide, as it were. We don't want in any way, again, shut down the wonder and the beauty of searching things out, but all that would be taken into account underneath the authority of the word of God is what we stress. And the reason why is because as the word of God, Jesus Christ, fully reveals, God himself. Do you want to know the will of God? Look to the person of Jesus Christ. Do you want to know, if I can say it this way, the desires of God? Look to the person of Jesus Christ. And so what we see here is the effect of the incarnation is not only our salvation, but it's also, again, our knowledge of the will of God. A third effect that we see of the incarnation is, we've mentioned it earlier, is this overturning of the kingdom of darkness. He has delivered us from the kingdom of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son. In Hebrews chapter 2, the writer talks about the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ came in order that He might destroy the works of the devil. The same thing we see in 1 John chapter 3 verse 8, passages that we have mentioned in the past few weeks. And so these are the effects of the Incarnation. The other effect of the incarnation that we saw, we saw it this morning in our opening reading. The other effect of the incarnation is that we have fellowship with God Almighty. Isn't this what the writer John says in 1 John 1, verses one through four there? I write these things unto you that you might have fellowship with us, and truly, our fellowship was with God and with his Son. And so we see that all these things are the effect of the incarnation. Now since, by way of the effect of the incarnation, We have the will of God revealed. One of the things that I would say to us as Christians is that we must learn to take all of our understanding of all or any spiritual matter from the word of God as given to us in the scripture. This is a great challenge. And sometimes I think what we want to do is we look to other areas and we say, well maybe we can understand something here or something there. What I want to say to you is this, is that it is in the glory of the Incarnation that God's will is fully revealed for us. everything that God wants us to know, we have for us in the person of Christ and in the scriptures themselves. Again, as I said before, this is a great challenge sometimes, because we can look here or there and think that maybe we can have information as to how to please God, but I'm saying to you that God sent His Son in order that you and I might know how to please Him, and that is through, again, the revelation that we have in the word of God, both written and living, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we've seen then the need of the Incarnation, the glory of the Incarnation, the effect of the Incarnation, our salvation. But the last thing I want you to consider with me is what I'm calling the symbol of the Incarnation. Now again, you know that in our first Sundays of the month, our first Lord's Days of the month, we have been observing the Lord's Supper. This has been our tradition of the church since before I've gotten here. And the idea has been to preach a sermon on the Lord's Supper. Well, I think there's no more fitting sermon that we can preach as we come into this, what we call the Advent season, than the preaching of this passage of Scripture. The Word became flesh and the symbol of the Word becoming flesh is on the table in front of us. Here we will see the Lord Jesus Christ symbolically represented to us in bread and in wine or the grape juice. We will see the Lord Jesus Christ bringing together in his very purpose his bleeding and dying for us. In his flesh, he worked perfect obedience to the will of God. With his blood, he cleanses us from our sins. And so what we see here then in the Lord's table is a symbol of the incarnation. So my brothers and sisters, In this first Lord's Day of this Advent season, I present to you the incarnate Christ. The need for the incarnation is very clear. The glory of the incarnation hopefully was somewhat displayed. The effect of the incarnation hopefully is personally embraced. And now the symbol of the incarnation here present before us. May we then, as the people of God, rejoice in all that the incarnation means to us. And may we come to the table of the Lord, thanking God for the fact that at that moment of time, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us in order that we might be saved. Let us pray.