A
Message by Pastor Michael Palmer
Given
to
March
7, 2010
JESUS HAS COME: FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH
John 1:14-18
I.
JESUS
BECAME FLESH (MAN), BUT STILL REMAINED GOD!
HE WAS THE ONE AND ONLY UNIQUE GOD-MAN
The verb became has a very special meaning
here. Not “became” in the sense of
ceasing to be what he was before. When
the wife of Lot becomes a pillar of salt, she ceased to be the wife of
“We, then, following the holy
Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and the same Son, our
Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood . .
. to be acknowledged in two natures inconfusedly,
unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of the natures
being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each
nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not
parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only
begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ; as the prophets from the
beginning have declared concerning him, and the Lord Jesus Christ himself has
taught us, and the Creed of the holy fathers has handed down to us.”
The term flesh has various
meanings in the New Testament. In our
passage it has reference to human nature, considered not as sinful (8:46), yet
for a while with the curse due to sin resting upon it, so that until the ransom
had been paid it is subject to weariness, pain, misery, death (4:6,7; 11:33,35;
12:27; 13:21; 19:30). It was that kind
of “flesh” which the Word assumed in his incomprehensible, condescending love.
(Copied from William Hendriksen’s
The Gospel of John, p. 84)
“and dwelt among us” = pitched his tent, tabernacled, or tented
This is an allusion back to the Tabernacle, which
pre-figured the ministry of Jesus among His people and the world. Everything in the Tabernacle was designed to
communicate spiritual truth. There are
several obvious parallels.
1.
THE
TABERNACLE WAS IN THE
Jesus is the center of all Christian life, community, and mission.
2.
THE
TABERNACLE WAS THE PLACE THE LAW OF MOSES WAS PRESERVED
Jesus perfectly obeyed the Father (John 8:29); He was the enbodiment of the law!
3.
THE
TABERNACLE WAS THE
Within the Holy of Holies, between the wings of the cherubim that
stretched over the Ark of the Covenant, there was the Shekinah
Glory of God.
4.
THE
TABERNACLE WAS
5.
THE
TABERNACLE WAS A PLACE WHERE SACRIFICES WERE MADE
There was no other means of approach to God other than by
sacrifice! Today that sacrifice is
provided by Jesus, who in the tabernacle of His flesh offered Himself up on
6.
THE
TABERNACLE IS THE PLACE WHERE
Jesus is the object, the center, the only Person worthy of our worship.
III. WHEN PEOPLE REALLY UNDERSTAND WHO JESUS IS, THEY ARE “STOPPED IN
THEIR TRACKS” AND ARE AMAZED AT JESUS!
WE SEE HIS GLORY.
“beheld” = a careful and deliberate vision
which seeks to interpret its object. It
refers to physical sight plus calm scrutiny, contemplation, or even
wonderment. We get the word “appearance”
or “spectacle” from this word. Jesus was
the visible spectacle of the SHEKINAH glory of God! He was the exact representation of God before
men.
“as
of the only begotten of the Father”
Some have misunderstood this phrase and took it to mean
Jesus was created or begotten at a point in time and therefore not eternal.
Here is what the Expositors Bible Commentary says about
that:
The KJV’s “only begotten”
incorrectly suggests that monogenes (GK 3666)
is derived from gennao (“to beget,” GK 1164)
rather than from ginomai (in this context, “to
be born,” GK 1181). John is saying that
the Son is unique, the only one of a kind.
God has as sons all who have been adopted into his family on the basis
of personal faith, but Jesus is the Son of God sui
generis (unique).
IV. JESUS IS
GRACE AND TRUTH, AND WE DESPERATELY NEED THEM BOTH!
“grace”
·
the
unmerited favor of God
·
the
desire and power to do God’s will
·
God’s
grace issues forth out of His mercy and love
THERE IS COMMON GRACE
·
to
every man
THERE IS SPECIFIC SAVING GRACE
·
To
God’s elect – to you who are saved.
·
This
is powerful life—transforming grace, grace that breaks a man’s
will, but not his spirit.
·
The
center of this grace is the cross of Christ.
·
It
is through this grace that we begin to sense a weight and guilt for our sins.
·
After
we are saved, it is this grace that enables us to see our sins as causing the
death of Christ, thereby enabling us to shun sin and further thank Him for His
continued deliverance.
“truth”
We live in a day where there is no truth. Listen to what Francis Shaeffer
said years ago:
He points out that people no longer believe in truth. They did believe in truth before the impact
of the philosophy of Hegel. In that day,
if one fact was truth, the opposite of that fact was believed to be false. There was antithesis, and what was true or
false then was believed to be true or false forever. After Hegel, the idea grew that reality was
to be represented not by what is true as opposed to what is false but rather by
what is true now, worse yet, by what is true only for the individual. Under this system my truth is not
necessarily your truth, and what is true for me now may not be
true for me tomorrow.
“But what does that man for our
day?” you may ask. The answer is that we
are dealing with truth, real truth, when we present the claims of Jesus Christ
and of Christianity. What happens most
often when you testify to the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ today? Isn’t it true that the most common reaction
is simply: “Fine; that’s good for you. I’m glad it helps you, but, after all, what
you say is only relatively true. If
something else helps me, then that is perfectly valid also.” This is the view we need to fight against.
(copied from Boice’s
commentary)
We live in a day where the people in the American church
are so fuzzy about truth that they wander about aimlessly. They are syncretistic in their thinking, and
their lives are filled with half-truths and sinful and selfish behavior
resulting in a joyless, frustrated life.
God’s TRUTH is always true, it is timeless, it is not culture bound; it
is not dependent on “my” or “our” circumstances.
·
Fornication
is sin!
·
Selfishness
is sin.
·
Not
allowing yourself to be broken by God or touched by
God is sin.
·
The
Cross and the atonement for sin is real.
·
Regeneration
of repentant man is real.
·
The
sanctity of life as taught in the Word of God is real/true.
·
Creation
is real (not evolution).
·
Husbands
are to be the responsible loving leader in the home – that is real.
·
Jesus
is coming again.
·
Heaven
is real.
·
People
can still be saved today!
You shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you
free!
V. THE WAVES
OF GOD’S GRACE CONTINUE TO
Do you
know Jesus personally today? If you
would like to receive Him right now, please come during the invitational
hymn and take one of the pastors’ hands and he will help you to know how to
receive Jesus.
If you
would like to become a part of the Green Ridge family, please step out and let
a pastor or deacon know. They will pray
with you and then you will be presented to the church family. A New Member / Church Information Class is required to be a member of Green Ridge. Let’s all do spiritual business right now!