{"id":18308,"date":"2017-05-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-28T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/beholding-the-lord-through-his-word-part-2\/"},"modified":"2017-05-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-05-28T05:00:00","slug":"beholding-the-lord-through-his-word-part-2","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/beholding-the-lord-through-his-word-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Beholding The Lord Through His Word – Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[88],"series_event":[476],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[152],"class_list":["post-18308","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-john","series_event-behold-the-lord-through-his-word","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-jim-mcgowan","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Beholding The Lord Through His Word - Part 2","sermon_date":"20170528","sermon_month":"5","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":4701,"sermon_slides":4700,"sermon_mp3":4705,"sermon_id":"528171154545","series_or_event":476,"service_type":[473],"speaker":152,"books_of_the_bible":88,"chapter_and_verse":"1:1-18 (focus v. 14)","sermon_transcript":"Dr. Jim McGowan\n\nBeholding the Lord Through His Word, Part 2\n\n5-28-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0John 1:1-18 (focus v. 14)\n\nGood morning; I\u2019m so glad that you\u2019re here today, I\u2019m glad I\u2019m here today.\u00a0 I just want to thank the Lord for this wonderful Memorial Day, I hope that you\u2019re thankful for all of the sacrifices that our men and women in uniform provide for us, have provided for us through the years and are doing so even now. We have a wonderful gentleman, police officer, out in the parking lot and if you haven\u2019t had an opportunity to greet him\u00a0 you should greet him and tell him how much you appreciate his service here this morning.\n\nI would also like to greet all those that are listening in our live stream, viewing in I guess I should say, live stream, we appreciate your being here with us this morning. And finally I\u2019d just like to ask you all to please remember Pastor Woods because he\u2019s going to be traveling, probably either late this evening or early tomorrow, he\u2019s going to be on his flight back from Germany so we just want to pray and ask God for traveling mercies for that also.\u00a0 So having said that let\u2019s open up with a word of prayer, shall we?\n\nGracious and loving heavenly Father, we are indeed grateful for the great grace and mercy that You have demonstrated in our lives by saving us, Father God, but\u00a0 not just saving us Father but also the fact that You have provided us the divine resources through which we can continue to grow and prosper in the things of God.\u00a0 Father, as we continue our studies this morning in beholding the Lord through His Word, my prayer is that we might be edified, we might be moved and challenged and motivated, Father God, to live for you more.\u00a0 May You be glorified in everything we say and do this morning.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, Amen.\n\nSo let\u2019s get started here; as I just mentioned we\u2019re in Part 2, Session 2 of our Beholding the Lord Through His Word series and what our focus is here is we\u2019re endeavoring to look at a few passages and see the living Word of God in the written Word of God, which of course is the Bible.\u00a0 Last time we got together we looked at 2 Corinthians 3:18, that was sort of our springboard and you see it says there, \u201cBut we all\u2026 beholding\u2026 the glory of the Lord\u201d so when we\u2019re talking about \u201cbeholding\u2026 the Lord\u201d\u00a0 beholding the Lord through His Word, one of the aspects of that is beholding the glory of the Lord through His Word.\n\nIf you look at John 1:14, which we will be getting in depth into today, notice what it says here,\n\n\u201cwe saw His glory\u2026\u201d that\u2019s the glory of the Lord, \u201cfull of grace and truth.\u201d\u00a0 We\u2019re going to be covering, actually, verses 1-18 and isn\u2019t that amazing, do you think we can cover 18 verses in one session?\u00a0 I\u2019m going to do my best.\u00a0 In upcoming sessions we\u2019re going to be talking about, or looking at 1 John 1:1-4, \u201cwe have seen with our eyes the Word of life\u201d and we\u2019re going to also cover Hebrews 12:1-2, \u201cfixing your eyes on Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 So that\u2019s going to be the next two sessions coming up.\n\nSo if you have your Bible, if you want to go ahead and turn to John 1:1-18, this is the New American Standard 95 edition, I\u2019m going to go ahead and read this rather lengthy passage to you; you can follow along if you\u2019d like to.\n\nIt says here, \u201cIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. \u00a0[2] He was in the beginning with God. [3] All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. [4] In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. [5] The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. [6] There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. [7] He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. [8] He was not the Light, but he came<\/em> to testify about the Light. [9] There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. [10] He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. [11] He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. [12] But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even<\/em> to those who believe in His name, [13] who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.\u201d\n\nAnd verse 14 is the verse we\u2019re going to be really focusing in on this morning. \u00a0[14] And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. [15] John testified about Him and cried out, saying, \u201cThis was He of whom I said, \u2018He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.\u2019\u00a0[16] For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. [17] For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. [18] No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.<\/em>\u201d\n\nSo before I go any further you should have picked up a handout; if you didn\u2019t get a handout maybe wave your hand and somebody will see and bring one to you.\u00a0 Make sure you have a handout; that will help you this morning.\n\nSo as we move forward here let\u2019s take a moment to make five preliminary observations.\u00a0 What we\u2019re going do first of all, I say five and I\u2019ve only got four up there and I think I missed one. John\u2019s use of chiasms, we\u2019re going to see that.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to see John\u2019s use of Chiasm (Chiasmus), going to see John\u2019s use of Old Testament References.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to see and notice John\u2019s Unique Use of the phrase, \u201cthe Word\u201d as a title for Christ.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to explore John\u2019s shared words and names in his writings, and John\u2019s stated purpose for his Gospel.\u00a0\u00a0 And these are things we want to highlight here at the foremost beginning, before we actually get into the text itself.\n\nSo let\u2019s look at this: what is a Chiasm.\u00a0 Now our pastor wonderfully introduced this idea (chiasm) to us in the past but what exactly is a chiasm.\u00a0 It\u2019s a literary device and in fact it\u2019s an emphatic literary device in which an author presents a sequence of ideas and then repeats them in reverse order resulting in a mirror effect, which I hope you can see up here on this picture.\u00a0 I have a line dividing the mirror effect for you there; each idea is related to its reflection by a repeated or related word.\u00a0 And the author\u2019s main idea is always found in the middle of the chiasm. So we\u2019ll notice that here in just a moment.\n\nHere it is.\u00a0 So there is a written form that expresses the same idea in various places throughout the Bible and here in John 1:1-18 it is one of those passages.\u00a0 Here\u2019s what John 1:18 looks like when outlined chiastically.\u00a0 I won\u2019t go through everything here but you\u2019ll notice, because the pastor has done this in the past with us, but notice how A at the top is mirrored by A at the bottom.\u00a0\u00a0 A at the top, B at the bottom, etc.\u00a0 And when we come to the very center of the chiasm we find \u201cso that all might believe.\u201d\u00a0 Now what did we say the chiasm does?\u00a0 The center of the chiasm brings about the emphasis and the focus for what the author is wanting to state. \u00a0So we\u2019ll talk some more about that also here in just a moment.\n\nLet\u2019s go into the next point here of our preliminary observation which is John\u2019s use of Old Testament references.\u00a0 Many people are very surprised to discover that John was well versed in the Old Testament and what we notice here right away is that he\u2019s going to draw from these Old Testament verses over and over again.\u00a0 We see in John 1:10 that he draws directly from Genesis chapter 1.\u00a0 In John 1 he\u2019s say, \u201cin the beginning,\u201d he\u2019ll use words like \u201clight\u201d and \u201cdarkness,\u201d \u201clife,\u201d and \u201cthe world was made through Him.\u201d\u00a0 This causes us to think back to Genesis chapter 1.\u00a0 Also in verses 11-13 he\u2019s now going to draw from the Old Testament in Genesis 16 because he\u2019s going to mention the issue of blood or descendants, and this is going to remind us Abraham, offspring and his descendants.\n\nAnother situation where he\u00a0 uses the Old Testament significantly is he draws very heavily from Exodus chapter 33, and I\u2019ve just broken it down here briefly for you; if you look at this what you see is that in Exodus 33 the author, Moses, uses the term presence and tent.\u00a0 In verses 8 and 10 he talks about gazing and seeing, or that he saw.\u00a0 In verse 13 he talks about knowing God.\u00a0 In verse 17 Moses\u2019 name is actually mentioned there.\u00a0 In verses 18 and 11 he reveals that what he\u2019s talking about in Exodus 22 is to show God\u2019s glory.\u00a0 And in verses 20 and 23 he gives the idea that we cannot see God directly.\u00a0 And what we\u2019re going to see here in just a minute is that every single one of these concepts or topics that we\u2019re seeing here is going to be reflected in what John writes to us.\n\nSo let\u2019s go to the next preliminary observation and this is going to be something that perhaps is a little new to you so we\u2019re going to take a little bit of time to talk about that.\u00a0 One of the things we find here is John\u2019s unique us of the expression \u201cthe Word.\u201d We\u2019ll find this in John 1:1, \u201cthe Word was God.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 In verse 14, \u201cthe Word became flesh.\u201d\u00a0 In 1 John 1:1 \u201cthe Word of life.\u201d\u00a0 And believe it or not we even find it in Revelation 19:13, \u201cthe Word of God.\u201d\u00a0 So what we discover very quickly here is that John is very, very consistent in his use of this terminology, \u201cthe Word.\u201d\u00a0 So the reference here to Christ as \u201cthe Word\u201d is a part of John\u2019s long-term and larger picture pattern.\u00a0 And he\u2019s going to use these references regularly in his writings. Here are all those verses where you can see that, \u00a0John 1:1 and verse 14; 1 John 1:1 and Revelation 1.\n\nAll right, let\u2019s talk about shared words, did I mention that one already and skipped it?\u00a0 Shared words and names; this is the one I meant to specifically point out here.\u00a0 This is a very interesting concept here; let\u2019s look at this for a minute.\u00a0 One of the things that John does here is he uses his words and names as if he\u2019s in a relay race, and you\u2019ll see him handing off certain words just like a relay runner would hand off a baton.\u00a0 And we\u2019re going to talk about that some.\u00a0 And then finally John\u2019s stated purpose for his gospel is what?\u00a0 Well, I think we mentioned that already but let\u2019s mention it again.\u00a0 The middle of the chiasm is what?\u00a0 It\u2019s verse 7, the last part of that verse where he says \u201csot that all might believe.\u201d\u00a0 So it\u2019s very interesting, isn\u2019t it, that John doesn\u2019t waste any time bringing out what his purpose for his book is here; it\u2019s right in chapter 1.\n\nBUT\u2026 where else have we seen John\u2019s purpose statement?\u00a0 We\u2019ve also seen it at the end of his book, haven\u2019t we.\u00a0 John 20:30-31, he says that Jesus did all these signs; what was the reason? \u00a0\u201c\u2026so that you may believe \u2026 and that believing you may have life in His name.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 So this expression or this concept, this purpose statement if you will, they\u2019re like book ends on the whole book of John.\u00a0 He starts with it and he ends with it. \u00a0[John 20:30, \u201cTherefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;\u00a0 [31] but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.\u201d]\n\nSo now we\u2019re going to jump right into the text itself and I\u2019ve broken this down into three separate highlights of high points.\u00a0 First of all we\u2019re going to talk about verses 1-5 which accentuates the deity of Jesus. Then we\u2019ll talk about verses 6-13 where John the Baptist is introduced.\u00a0 And then verses 14-18 where it talks about the Word being made flesh.\n\nSo here we go, the deity of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Notice the expression right away, \u201cIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.\u00a0 [2] He was in the beginning with God.\u00a0 [3] All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. [4] In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. [5] The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.\u201d\n\nWe\u2019ve already mentioned this briefly but there are two books in the Bible that begin with this very same statement, \u201cIn the beginning.\u201d\u00a0 Genesis and John\u2026 Genesis and John.\u00a0 That is unique to John; he\u2019s the only other author that uses that expression.\u00a0\u00a0 And what he\u2019s doing here is he\u2019s establishing a relationship; right away he\u2019s establishing the relationship, I should say eternal relationship that Christ has with the Trinity or within the Trinity.\u00a0 Now I hope you can see that, I don\u2019t know how well you can read it, but if you look at that chart up at the top where it says The Father,\u00a0 you\u2019ll notice it says the Father is the Divine Architect.\u00a0 Then when you come down of the left hand side what do we see?\u00a0\u00a0 The Son is the Divine Builder.\u00a0 And then on the right hand side The Holy Spirit is the Divine Artist.\u00a0 I like this chart, it helps me kind of understand some of these passages better.\n\nAnd we can also compare this statement made here in John 1:1-3 with what\u2019s said in Colossians 1:16-17.\u00a0 Notice what it says here, \u201cFor by Him\u201d this is talking about Christ, \u201call things were created, both<\/em> in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities\u2014all things have been created through Him and for Him. [17] He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.\u201d\u00a0 This is a restatement, really, of what He said back in John 1:1-3; it\u2019s fascinating how this theme is carried through the entire New Testament.\u00a0 There it is.\n\nAs we continue on we see, \u201c In the beginning<\/u> was the Word,\u201d now what you\u2019re going to see me doing as we go along is I\u2019m going to highlight different portions of the text to show you what we\u2019re actually focusing on, so it says, \u201cIn the beginning<\/u> was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. \u201c\u00a0 And notice He was \u201cwith God\u201d it says.\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 Though it may appear here that John is being repetitive, in fact that\u2019s not the case.\u00a0 What\u2019s happening is he\u2019s being very specific in what he\u2019s saying.\u00a0 He\u2019s written a different point, or his point is actually what sounds at first glance like repetition is something entirely different.\n\nWhat is it that John is trying to say here?\u00a0 If we look at this and break it down, \u201cIn the beginning was the Word,\u201d what John is saying here is that Jesus Christ is God\u2019s personal expression and that He existed from the very beginning.\u00a0 When we see the expression \u201cthe Word was with God\u201d what is he saying? He\u2019s saying Jesus Christ, god\u2019s personal expression, had fellowship with the Father and the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 When he repeats the expression \u201cthe Word was God\u201d what is he saying?\u00a0 That Jesus Christ, God\u2019s personal expression, was indeed in fact deity Himself.\u00a0 And then it says, \u201cHe was in the beginning with God.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 What is he saying?\u00a0 His fellowship with the Father and the Holy Spirit was already in place in the beginning.\n\nSo let\u2019s look at verse 3.\u00a0 Verse 3 says, \u201cAll things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.\u201d\u00a0 So what we have here is a positive-negative Hebrew poetry pattern which is often seen in the Psalms and the Proverbs; there\u2019s a positive declaration saying that all things came into being through Him and then there\u2019s a negative declaration that says apart from Him nothing that came into being has in fact come into being.\u00a0 And we can represent that like this: there\u2019s your positive statement, there\u2019s your negative statement.\n\nSo Jesus Christ made everything, is what John is saying, He made EVERYTHING, and if He didn\u2019t make it, it doesn\u2019t exist.\u00a0 John creates an absolute contrast; the contrast is \u201call things\u201d versus \u201cnothing.\u201d\u00a0 And his choice of words here are absolute in the extreme; everything either came into being through Christ or it never existed at all, period, exclamation point!\u00a0 And for my wife, in case there\u2019s someone here who isn\u2019t a math person what I\u2019ve done is I\u2019ve placed on here the absolute value which, as she will tell you that absolute means what? Absolute, period, exclamation point!\n\nLet\u2019s talk for a moment about\u2026 we mentioned already that we have these handoff words or names, both cases, and what we find here, if you look at the next slide, look at the highlighting I have here, so what we see is a baton handoff where the word, or the phrase \u201cThe Word\u201d in verse 1 then becomes \u201cHe\u201d and \u201cHim\u201d in verses 2 and 3 and on into the beginning of verse 4.\u00a0 [John 1:2-3, \u201cIn the beginning was the Word<\/u>, and the Word<\/u> was with God, and the Word<\/u> was God. [2] He<\/u> was in the beginning with God. \u00a0[3] All things came into being through Him<\/u>, and apart from Him<\/u> nothing came into being that has come into being.\u201d [4] In Him<\/u> was life<\/u>, and\u00a0 the life<\/u> was the Light<\/u> of men. 5<\/sup> The Light<\/u> shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.\u201d]\n\nSo \u201cThe Word\u201d becomes \u201cHe\u201d and \u201cHim\u201d and \u201cHe and \u201cHim\u201d are referencing what?\u00a0 They\u2019re referencing the Word.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 In verse 4 we see \u201cIn Him<\/u> was life<\/u>, and\u00a0 the life<\/u> was the Light<\/u> of men. [5]\u00a0 The Light<\/u> shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.\u00a0 So what we notice here in verse 4 is that \u201clife\u201d now gets handed off to \u201cthe life\u201d and then that gets handed off to \u201cthe Light\u201d and then finally handed off to \u201cthe Light\u201d again in verse 5.\n\nSo I want you to see this progression here, this handing off of terms or handing off of names.\u00a0 So the sequence is this: he starts with the Word then he goes to the pronouns \u201cHe\u201d and \u201cHim\u201d to identify that Word, then He adds a new title, or a new description if you will of who this Word is, calling Him the life and then calls Him the Light.\u00a0 There\u2019s a reason for this: the identity of Christ ends up getting passed from one descriptive word or title to the next and if you notice it grows fuller with each word.\u00a0 John is talking about the same person, the same entity, but he\u2019s using different words for Him each time.\n\nNow one thing that\u2019s fascinating when you think about this is that here\u2019s John, who is an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ and he\u2019s writing about the Lord Jesus Christ but what do you notice that\u2019s missing in verses 1-5?\u00a0 Did you notice this\u2014we have not yet encountered either the name or title Christ or the name Jesus; we haven\u2019t even gotten to that yet.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Well, it\u2019s because John isn\u2019t quite finished with associating some other names and titles with this entity, with this person, the Word.\n\nSo that brings us to the next section which is John 6-13, and here it is:\u00a0 \u201cThere came a man sent from God, whose name was John. [7] He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. [8] He was not the Light, but he came<\/em> to testify about the Light. [9] There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. [10] He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 So in verses 6-8 what we have happening here is\u2026 and be careful, make sure you catch this, that John, the apostle, is introducing and briefly talking about John the Baptist and he\u2019s going to pick up his comments about John the Baptist again a few verses later and then ultimately toward the end of the chapter he\u2019s going to go into some more depth about John the Baptist and we\u2019re going to discover that John the Baptist becomes a very important character.\u00a0 So he introduces him here.\n\nSo that brings us again to verse 7, and what did we say verse 7 was?\u00a0 It\u2019s the middle of the chiasm, right?\u00a0 It\u2019s the middle of the chiasm.\u00a0 Now one of the things I\u2019d like to point out here and you might want to document this if you haven\u2019t previously, is that this is the very first occurrence of the word \u201cbelieve\u201d in John\u2019s Gospel\u2026 the very first occurrence.\u00a0 What John is saying here is he tells us that the reason that, notice, John the Baptist came to testify\u2026. What was the reason John the Baptist came to testify?\u00a0 It was namely so that people \u201cmight believe\u201d and this is in line with his purpose for testifying.\u00a0\u00a0 You remember that John the Baptist was happy, delighted, exuberant when in the end Jesus gathered and even took disciples away from him. Do you remember that?\u00a0 His disciples came, Master, look, Jesus is pulling all these disciples away from you.\u00a0 And he said yes, \u201cHe must increase but I must decrease,\u201d John 3:30.\n\nAnd then he also said my joy \u201chas been made full,\u201d now can you imagine how shocking that must have sounded to John the Baptist\u2019s disciples?\u00a0 How many people that God is using are willing to stand up and say praise the Lord, I am delighted that this ministry or that ministry or this individual or that individual is receiving more blessings from God, it\u2019s a good thing?\u00a0 Most of the time that\u2019s not our attitude, is it?\u00a0 That\u2019s not right, I\u2019m working harder than they are, I\u2019m doing more than they are.\u00a0 That wasn\u2019t John the Baptist\u2019s attitude at all; he was delighted, \u201cHe must increase but I must decrease.\u201d\n\nSo we mentioned the fact that that was the first occurrence of the word \u201cbelieve.\u201d\u00a0 And right here in John 20 is the final or the last occurrence of the word \u201cbelieve\u201d in the book of John.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t that fascinating!\u00a0 One of the things that\u2019s really interesting about the book of John is the fact that you never find the word \u201crepentance\u201d in it, \u201crepent\u201d or \u201crepentance\u201d in it.\u00a0 But in the book of John, approximately a hundred times, let that sink in for a second, approximately a hundred times you find the word \u201cbelieve\u201d in one form or another.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Well, it\u2019s easily explained when we consider what we\u2019ve already said, that at the very beginning of the book he gives you his purpose statement and at the very end of the book he gives a purpose statement also.\n\nAnd by the way, may I just say that as we look at this verse here on the screen it says \u201cso that you may believe \u2026 and that believing you may have life in His name.\u201d\u00a0 [John 20:31, \u201cbut these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.\u201d]\u00a0 Let me just throw this out there; there isn\u2019t any other way to have life\u2026 no other way!\u00a0 You have to come through belief.\n\nSo after this brief introduction John the Apostle now is going to shift back, in verses 9 and 10 to his discussion about the life.\u00a0 Notice again, I\u2019ve highlighted this for you, what we notice right away here in verses 9 and 10 is the passing of the baton again.\u00a0 So the word \u201clight\u201d now becomes an ongoing theme for John and we see \u201cthe light\u201d \u201cthe light\u201d \u201cthe light\u201d and then notice what happens, \u201cthe light\u201d becomes \u201cthe true light.\u201d \u00a0[John 1:9, \u201cThere was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.\u00a0 [10] He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.\u201d]\n\nAnd finally, if you notice there, what happens again?\u00a0 We saw this in verse 2, now we shift back to the pronoun \u201cin Him.\u201d\u00a0 So John is identifying very, very clearly, very definitively who he\u2019s talking about here, who is the Word, who is this Life, who is the Light?\u00a0 It\u2019s a person, it\u2019s a He, it\u2019s a Him.\n\nLet me back up just for a second, this expression \u201cthe true Light and Life if you\u2019ll notice in the parenthesis down there you\u2019re going to find those very same expressions used in John 8:12, chapter 9, verse 5 and in 1 John 2:8.\u00a0 Remember we talked about how consistent John is in the use of his terminology and his baton passing?\n\nSo now we come to this concept of world; so Christ\u2019s relationship to the world or planet earth, and by the way, the word \u201cworld\u201d here is the word cosmos, and it\u2019s given here in verses 9 and 10, Christ was\u2026 notice what was He, \u201cHe was in the world\u201d and He came into the world and that \u201cworld was made through Him,\u201d so Christ is responsible for having created everything, as we\u2019ve already stated.\u00a0 But isn\u2019t it interesting as we look at this that nobody knew Him.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t recognize Him.\u00a0 Look at that.\u00a0 \u201cThis was the true light which coming into the world, enlightens every man.\u00a0 [10] He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him..\u201d\u00a0 We\u2019re going to see this elaborated on here in just a moment.\u00a0 Notice also that this person that came into the world, what did He do?\u00a0 He enlightened \u201cevery man.\u201d\u00a0 Notice that the \u201cworld was made through Him,\u201d and again they \u201cdid not know Him.\u201d\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that sad?\n\nThen we come to verses 11-13 and in verse 11 it says, \u201cHe came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s very interesting here as we think about this, on the one hand John, the Apostle, gets very specific when he refers to \u201cHis own.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cHis own\u201d here means the Jews, but He also presents a general summary of their response which is, notice, they \u201cdid not receive Him.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cHe came to His own\u201d and they \u201cdid not receive Him.\u201d\n\nBut as we go on into verse 12 notice here it says, \u201cBut as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even<\/em> to those who believe in His name,\u201d so on the one hand He gets specific about who it is that didn\u2019t receive Him; on the other hand He does say that there were some that did and those few that did receive Him, they\u2019re the ones to which or to whom \u201cHe gave the right to become children of God, even<\/em> to those who believe in His name.\u201d\n\nI\u2019ll just point out in passing here that as we look at this verse the verb \u201creceived,\u201d the verb \u201cgave\u201d and the verb \u201cbecome\u201d are all aorist and what I want to point out about that is that\u2019s talking about there was a point in time, a historical point in time that can be pointed to where they received Him and \u201cHe gave them the right to become children of God\u201d and said \u201ceven<\/em> to those who believe in His name.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 So the majority did not receive Him but there were specific exceptions that are defined by the phrase \u201cas many as\u201d and again notice, though, that their receiving Him was expressed in their believing.\u00a0 In fact, in this verse, as I have noted here at the bottom, receiving is synonymous with believing.\u00a0 So we can put up a formula like this, receiving equals believing and believing equals receiving.\n\nThat brings us to verse 13 where it says they \u201cwere born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Let\u2019s talk about this for just a moment.\u00a0 What in the world does John mean when He says \u201cborn\u201d?\u00a0 First of all let me point out that what he\u2019s saying here is that when someone believes, let me back up here just for a second so you can see that verse, again he says when someone believes they instantly become what?\u00a0 They become children of God.\n\nI don\u2019t know about you but when I witness to people, when I share the gospel and someone miraculously through the grace of God comes to Christ one of the greatest joys that I have is being able to look them in the eye and say based upon your belief\u00a0 you are right now a child of God.\u00a0 See, what do religions and denominations tell us?\u00a0 Well, here\u2019s twelve steps to becoming a child of God, right?\u00a0 Well, yes, we\u2019re glad you believed but that\u2019s enough, you have to do A, B, C, D, E, F, G.\u00a0 No, the instant that you believe you become a child of God.\n\nNow that\u2019s also interesting because what does that also tell us, and we\u2019ll talk about this some more in a minute, but isn\u2019t it true that most people that you talk to, if you say oh, are you a believer, are you a Christian, what\u2019s your general response?\u00a0 Oh yes, oh yeah, of course I am.\u00a0 Many people think that they\u2019re Christians because they were born in America and so we have to undo some bad theology to help them find out that they\u2019re not truly a child of God and how they can become a child of God.\n\nSo again, \u201cwho were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.\u201d\u00a0 What does he mean by \u201cborn\u201d?\u00a0 This is very interesting because what we have is a clue in verse 12 and this clue is that in the context of verse 12 he says that those who received Christ by believing in Him become, and that\u2019s that verb ginomai<\/em> again, they\u00a0 \u201cbecome children of God.\u201d\u00a0 So this is fascinating; this is interesting because within the idea of this word, this Greek word ginomai<\/em> is the actual idea of becoming by being born.\u00a0 So John purposely used that verb there.\n\nLet\u2019s untie some knots here; being born a child of God, he says, is \u201cnot of blood.\u201d\u00a0 This is interesting, it\u2019s in the plural, and literally what he\u2019s saying is it\u2019s not just from a Jewish bloodline. And we miss this as Gentiles because we\u2019re not really fully equipped in our understanding of Jewish mythology, but let me share something with you that I find very interesting.\u00a0 Jewish mythology taught that in the end times that father Abraham would be standing at the gates of hell to guarantee that no Jew would ever pass through them.\u00a0 Now if we understand that then we begin to understand one of the reasons, perhaps, that when Jesus was talking to Nicodemus and He told him that he had to be born again, that is absolutely blew his mind; it astonished him, it stunned him. But he says here, it\u2019s \u201cnot of blood,\u201d so it\u2019s not because you\u2019re a Jew that you\u2019re a child of God.\n\nThen he says being born a child of God is not of the will of the flesh and literally what this is referring to is this idea of just the natural human desire to have offspring.\u00a0 I would tie this into the thought that if you go back into Genesis you\u2019ll recall that when Cain killed Abel that Eve became pregnant and what did she say?\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve begotten a man\u201d and in the English it says \u201cfrom God\u201d but that\u2019s not there.\u00a0 It actually says I\u2019ve begotten a man God.\u00a0 So there is within this concept of every Jewish individual, especially during this heightened Messianic involvement that was going on there in Jesus\u2019 day, every maiden and every young woman wanted to be the one who gave birth to the Messiah, but didn\u2019t he say it\u2019s not of the will of human desire.\u00a0 And then he says to be born a child of God is not of the will of man.\u00a0 And the word here is specifically male, in other words, it\u2019s not some idea that a man comes up with.\n\nAnd then we can tie this directly in, to get a better understanding, with what happened in the story of Abraham.\u00a0 You remember that story, right?\u00a0 Sarah bring hers handmaid to Abraham because she\u2019s barren, what a great idea that was, didn\u2019t that work out well for the Jewish people and for the world as a whole?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how well you can see that chart but on the left hand side we see Sarah and her bloodline coming down, and we have Isaac and Jacob or Israel.\u00a0 And then we have all the Jews and their prophets, hallelujah!\u00a0 But oops, we have the human desire for fulfillment on the right hand side.\u00a0 So we have Hagar and then we have Ishmael and then we have Kedar and all the Arabs and we ultimately end up with Mohammed who\u2019s the prophet of Islam.\u00a0 Do you think they slipped up a little bit when they tried to make it happen their own way?\u00a0 I think so!\n\nSo the word \u201cman\u201d is again andros<\/em>, meaning specifically male, pointing to the fathering of a child as a strategy, and that doesn\u2019t work, does it?\u00a0 So in verse 13 who are the children of God?\u00a0 [13, \u201cwho were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.\u201d ] \u00a0This verse negates any and all human strategies or means for being born spiritually, but it says that spiritual birth is of or out of God.\u00a0 \u00a0So the children of God are who?\u00a0 They are those who were born of God.\n\nNow you might say Jim, what in the world is all this crazy highlighting on this slide.\u00a0 And what is all that tongue speaking down there at the bottom of that slide?\u00a0 Well, what I\u2019ve done here is I\u2019ve put the Greek in here for you and I just want you to see how these line up.\u00a0 The idea of being born of, \u201cof\u201d in the English does not capture what the original language says.\u00a0 If you look at the word \u201cof\u201d and you come down in verse 13 at the bottom in the Greek you\u2019ll see the individual little words I have marked, that\u2019s the word that we\u2019re translating as \u201cof.\u201d\u00a0 What it literally means is of, really out of, or originating with is another way to say that.\n\nThen something else I want you to see is the English portion, where it says at the beginning, \u201cwho were born\u201d the \u201cwho were born\u201d part is actually in the Greek the very last word in the sentence.\u00a0 Jim\u2026 who cares!\u00a0 Don\u2019t fill our minds up with all this gobblety-gook, right?\u00a0 But listen, there\u2019s a reason I\u2019m telling you this, because in Greek very many times, often times the word comes at the end of the sentence is the word that receives the greatest stress and emphasis.\u00a0 So notice \u201cwho were born\u201d is the important thing here.\n\nAlso, one other thing I want to point out to you; do you see the word \u201cbut of God,\u201d see \u201cbut\u201d highlighted there?\u00a0 If you come straight down and across to the right just a little bit you\u2019ll see what looks like a funny a-l-l there.\u00a0 That\u2019s the word alla<\/em> but it\u2019s abbreviated here in the context and let me tell you something very interesting about that word.\u00a0 In Greek this is a conjunction, it is a contrasting conjunction.\u00a0 And it is the strongest, most potent, most important, emphatic\u2026 did I say enough, did I give enough adjectives there, modifiers?\u00a0 It\u2019s the strongest contrast you can make.\u00a0 So what he\u2019s saying here is being born, which is the important thing spiritually, is not\u00a0 of blood, not of the will of man, not of the flesh, but on the contrary it is from or originates with God.\u00a0 That\u2019s what John is saying here.\n\nSometimes knowing a little bit about the language helps us in our English understanding I think.\u00a0 I\u2019ll just make a side comment here is that what we\u2019re going to encounter if we go on into John chapter 3, you\u2019re all familiar with this, right?\u00a0 John introduces this concept of spiritual birth here but what is he going to do?\u00a0 He\u2019s going to have a private conversation with Nicodemus in chapter 3 and what he\u2019s going to do he\u2019s going to introduce this idea of being born again and remember what Nicodemus was likely thinking about\u2014well, why do I need to be born again.\u00a0 Right!\u00a0 Father Abraham is going to be down there waiting for me and he\u2019s going to make sure I don\u2019t go to hell.\u00a0 So how surprising it must have been for him to hear this.\n\nThat brings us to the last section which is 14-18 and we\u2019re going to spend some time here on this; this is fascinating material.\u00a0 John 1:14, \u201cAnd the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.\u201d\u00a0 Let me give you a quote, this is from Dr. Constable, and what he says here is that, \u201cFlesh in Scripture has a literal meaning, namely, material human flesh.\u00a0 But it also has a metaphorical meaning, meaning the human spirit.\u00a0 Here John used it in the metaphorical sense saying that God the Son assumed a human, though not sinful, nature.\n\nNow I\u2019m going to give you a little caveat here, this is Jim\u2019s commentary on Dr. Constable\u2019s commentary, right?\u00a0 I think what Dr. Constable says here is good, I just don\u2019t think it\u2019s enough.\u00a0 All right, and I\u2019m going to explain that here in just a moment.\u00a0 So what we want to understand here is \u201cwhen the Word became flesh\u201d what John is saying is that Christ set aside the privileges of deity to become a man.\u00a0\u00a0 Notice He didn\u2019t set aside His deity; He merely set aside the privileges of His deity and that\u2019s a very, very important distinction because there are all kinds of heresies that have developed because of a misunderstanding of what John is saying here.\n\nNow let me give you another quote if I may, that I think is a little bit better.\u00a0 This is from D.A. Carson and his book, The Gospel According to John<\/em>.\u00a0 Listen to what he says; he says: \u201cHere in this verse we see Christ, born of Mary in Bethlehem.\u00a0 He never ceased being deity, rather He took on or added a sinless human nature like that of Adam before the fall.\u00a0 But it\u2019s important to understand that His deity was in no way modified or impacted; He is both fully God and fully man.\u00a0 The Word, God\u2019s very self-expression who was both with God and who was God became flesh.\u00a0 He donned our humanity with the exception of our sin.\u201d\u00a0 I think that\u2019s a little bit better definition of what John is saying here. So He \u201cbecame flesh,\u201d He was a real human being.\u00a0 And of course we can discover this as we read through John and we see all the many things that describe His humanity: weeping, joy, hunger, thirst, etc.\n\nWhen we stop and point out this next word I have highlighted is the word \u201cdwelt.\u201d\u00a0 This particular word was chosen by John and literally means tabernacled or to live in a tent.\u00a0 And in the New Testament it is used only five times and guess who is the only one that uses it\u2014it\u2019s the Apostle John.\u00a0 So only here and four times, and I have the verses listed for you right there where we find this. [Revelation 7:15; 12:12; 13:6; 21:3]\n\nAnd here\u2019s what you need to come away with: in each case this word that is being translated \u201cdwelt\u201d is used for God dwelling with men.\u00a0 So this is a theme that John continues through his writings.\n\nThen we come to the next words here, \u201camong us and we saw His glory,\u201d in this case \u201camong us\u201d refers to Jesus having tabernacled, or tented, dwelled, specifically among His disciples and those who accompanied Him.\u00a0 They were the ones who saw or I prefer the word \u201cbeheld\u201d here \u201cHis glory.\u201d\u00a0 And the reason I prefer \u201cbeheld\u201d is because the Greek word that\u2019s being translated \u201csaw\u201d here literally means to behold; it\u2019s the idea of to look closely, to examine it.\u00a0 So you will recall in the past sessions we\u2019ve had that I have defined \u201cglory\u201d as the radiant essence of who God is.\u00a0 So John is saying here that he and those in company with Christ looked closely at Christ\u2019s radiant essence, which was glorious because of His deity.\n\nThen the next expression, \u201cglory as of the only begotten from the Father,\u201d in order for us now to understand the magnitude and the character of the glory he\u2019s just mentioned he now adds something to his description, \u201cglory as of the only begotten from the Father.\u201d\u00a0 John used the word \u201conly begotten\u201d here, it\u2019s monogenesis<\/em>, more than any other New Testament writer, and by it he meant that Christ was unique.\u00a0 We could substitute this expression, \u201cglory as of the unique one from the Father.\u201d\u00a0 The Greek word here in this verse has no definite article and here\u2019s where knowing a little bit of Greek helps.\u00a0 So when we look at the English we see \u201cthe only\u201d but \u201cthe\u201d is not there in the Greek and the significance of that is that in the Greek what John is focusing on is the character of Christ\u2019s uniqueness.\u00a0 There\u2019s no one else like Him is what John is saying.\n\nSo in keeping with the Christ having been uniquely from God the Father John is going to later profound and\u00a0 unique insight into the relationship that Christ has with the Father in his book, as well as the ministry of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 In fact, John will later reveal to us that the Holy Spirit is in fact sent from both the Father AND the Son, or let me back up and say the unique Son.\u00a0 So Jesus Christ is God\u2019s unique Son and here in this verse if you understand it correctly John is clearly presenting the doctrine of the Trinity.\n\nIf we look at the last expression here, \u201cfull of grace and truth,\u201d as I was doing this study when I came to this part I almost had to stop and I\u2019m sorry, I had to have a hallelujah fit.\u00a0 Have you ever had a hallelujah fit?\u00a0 No, you all are too prim and proper for that.\u00a0 Sometimes I have them, all right; I had one here.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026full of grace and truth,\u201d John wrote that when Christ dwelt, tabernacled, tented among them they looked closely upon Christ awesome unique glory and that Christ was \u201cfull of grace and truth.\u201d\u00a0 And again we said \u201cglory\u201d is the radiant essence of who God is and God is by His eternal character also infinite grace and truth.\n\nSo Christ\u2019s capacity for and expression of \u201cgrace and truth\u201d was not partial or limited but it instead was completely full\u2026 completely full!\u00a0 That\u2019s awesome.\u00a0 When we come to verse 15, \u201cJohn testified about Him and cried out, saying, \u2018This was He of whom I said, \u2018He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.\u2019\u201d So John the Apostle now returns to his discussion of John the Baptist.\u00a0\u00a0 You will recall that John the Baptist was six months older than Christ and that he also started his public ministry, apparently, before Christ did as well.\u00a0 But John the Baptist proclaims here that Christ was greater than him because Christ existed before Him.\n\nJohn the Baptist says \u201cHe existed before me.\u201d\u00a0 Why did he say that?\u00a0 Because He is acknowledging here Christ\u2019s deity.\n\nIt never ceases to amaze me how people say, all the time, how the Scriptures don\u2019t declare Jesus as deity, or Jesus doesn\u2019t claim deity.\u00a0 Sometimes I think to myself have they ever read the Book of John because it\u2019s very clear there, in both cases.\u00a0 John declares that He\u2019s deity and Jesus Himself declares that He\u2019s deity.\n\nSo John the Baptist proclaims that Christ was greater than he because Christ did in fact exist before Him.\u00a0 And John the Apostle will later record Christ\u2019s own words.\u00a0 What did Jesus say in John 8:58, \u201cTruly, truly,\u201d \u201cVerily, verily,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cSurely, surely, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.\u201d\n\nNotice that John the apostle wrote there in chapter 8; he wrote \u201cI am\u201d not I was.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because God\u2019s perspective of time is that all time is eternally present, it\u2019s right now.\u00a0 And as the Second Member of the Trinity Christ\u2019s perspective is the same.\u00a0 Neither John the Baptist, then, or John the Apostle\u2019s declaration as we see here were a confusion of the fact.\n\nYou know, some people say oh well, you know, John was just happy, he was all full of the Lord and so happy that he said some things that well\u2026 you know\u2026 he got a little carried away.\u00a0 NO, he didn\u2019t get carried away.\u00a0 These are declarations of facts and they\u2019re a recognition that Christ, being God, has existed in all eternity past.\n\nNow notice when we come to verse 16 we see again something very similar to what we see before.\u00a0 Verse 16, \u201cFor of His fullness<\/u> we have all received, and grace upon grace<\/u>.\u201d\u00a0 John the Apostle and those who were in company with Christ, notice what it says, \u201call received\u201d of the \u201cfullness\u201d of Christ\u2019s character.\u00a0 What character is that?\u00a0 The glory, the grace and the truth.\n\nNow here\u2019s what I want you to get; this is great stuff here, if you get excited and you want to shout hallelujah it\u2019s okay.\u00a0 Notice, he says they were seated in \u201cfullness\u201d it was full on, full out as if you were drinking from a fire hydrant.\u00a0 Have you ever tried to drink from a fire hydrant?\u00a0 Can you imagine what would happen?\u00a0 Would you get overwhelmed?\u00a0 Would you be overcome?\u00a0 Yeah, that\u2019s what John\u2019s saying here, that they received from this awesome, unbelievable, overwhelming grace.\u00a0 John said they all received \u201cgrace upon grace.\u201d\u00a0 And he\u2019s picturing two things here, very important.\u00a0 One, he\u2019s picturing the abundance of grace and he\u2019s picturing the continuity of grace and that all of this came from Christ.\u00a0 And it infinitely flows from Christ\u2019s changeless character.\n\nSometime people, because they listen to their flesh or they listen to other people or they listen to the devil, when they make a mistake what do they do?\u00a0 They want to wallow in self-pity\u2014oh, I can\u2019t believe, oh I\u2019m such a rotten person, oh, oh, oh.\u00a0 The only reason that you would want to do that is because you\u2019re ignorant of what we just said right here.\u00a0 The Lord Jesus Christ infinitely bestows from His changeless character an abundance of grace upon grace.\u00a0 He\u2019s just waiting for you to take advantage of it and use 1 John 1:9, \u201cIf we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.\u201d\u00a0 Do you really believe that?\u00a0 If you\u2019re cleansed from all unrighteousness because of this infinite flow of grace, then how should\u00a0 you respond?\u00a0 That wasn\u2019t even in here, that\u2019s just added for you benefit.\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 I\u2019m getting excited here.\u00a0 Somebody get excited with me.\n\nLook at verse 17 here, now John says \u201cFor the Law<\/u> was given<\/u> through Moses; the grace <\/u>and\u201d notice how I have this worded, \u201c the grace <\/u>and \u00a0the truth<\/u> were realized<\/u> through Jesus Christ.\u201d\u00a0 John makes it very clear here that Moses carried out his charge by passing on the laws to all Israel.\u00a0 How many laws were there by the way?\u00a0 613 laws; \u201cthe law was given through Moses\u201d as moral and spiritual information but notice this.\u00a0 Catch this, that\u2019s not how the grace and the truth were bestowed.\u00a0 Look at this, \u201cthe grace and the truth were\u201d not just given through Christ, but came in the form of\u2026 get ready, you\u2019re not going to believe what I\u2019m going to say here---it came in the form of a walking, talking, living, breathing human with flesh and bones, the Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nAnd that\u2019s really different, isn\u2019t it, the grace and the truth realized is not a law to look at; it\u2019s Christ Himself and it\u2019s beholding Him!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice that I used \u201cthe grace and the truth,\u201d once again the definite articles are not used in the first part of verse 14 but they are used down here in 17.\u00a0 And so what\u2019s happening here is in verse 14 John is focusing on the character of grace and truth as a whole but when we move down to verse 17 what he\u2019s doing is he\u2019s emphasizing the singular and specific character of grace and truth.\u00a0 In other words, in verse 17 it is \u201cthe grace and the truth\u201d and it\u2019s specifically attributed to and flowing from Christ Himself.\u00a0 Sadly, as is the case here, most of our English translations do not reveal that.\n\nWe get now to verse 18, \u201cNo one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Well, if \u201cNo one has seen God at any time\u201d why do we read of people seeing God in various forms in the Bible?\u00a0 What\u2019s John saying?\u00a0 Well, the answer is that while God has taken on Biblical forms at times (and I have some pictures up here representing that) what are some examples?\u00a0 Well, you remember when the three angels appeared to Abraham and Sarah?\u00a0 From the context it\u2019s very clear that God was there present, one of them.\u00a0 When we come later to the second picture that\u2019s supposed to be Jacob wrestling and we discover from the context that was the angel of the Lord, that\u2019s God.\u00a0 And then what happens when the children of Israel come to Mount Sinai?\u00a0 Do they, in some small way, see a physical manifestation of God?\u00a0 I should say so, they see fire on top of the mountain and smoke, and what did they see for fourteen years in the desert?\u00a0 They saw the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day, didn\u2019t they?\n\nSo God has revealed Himself at times in a physical form.\u00a0\u00a0 So\u00a0 John, what in the world are you saying here?\u00a0 What John is actually saying is that no human being can see God in His essence.\u00a0 God is an uncreated spiritual being, John 4:24.\u00a0 [God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 So no one can see Him in the fullness of His essence.\n\nThe next part of that verse, \u201cthe only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.<\/em>\u201d \u00a0The one who is the only begotten in verse 14 is here called \u201conly begotten God.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus Christ, once again, is being declared to be deity but \u201cgotten\u201d is\u00a0 unique\u2026 unique.\u00a0 You could substitute the word unique there, \u201cthe unique God who is in the bosom of the Father.\u201d\u00a0 John 8:59 and 10:31 are two inferences where the Jews picked up stones to kill Jesus because they interpreted and understood that Jesus was claiming deity, which in their minds was blasphemy.\u00a0 And again I just make the comment, how can anyone say that Jesus never claimed deity; He in fact did.\n\nThe last part of this verse says \u201c He has explained Him.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 When John wrote that he saw Christ in verses 14 and also in 1 John 4:1-4, he was not saying that he saw the essence of God but he was saying that he saw Jesus Christ, a personal being, who being deity expressed that deity in human form.\u00a0 And as He did so He was revealing and explaining in the context of real life the matchless and changeless and eternal character of God Himself. [1 John 4:1-4, \u201cBeloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. [2] By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; [3] and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit<\/em> of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. [4] You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.\u201d]\n\nWow, that\u2019s good stuff!\u00a0 That\u2019s what He said back in 14, \u201cHe was among us and we saw His glory.\u201d\n\nThis brings us to the conclusion of our session.\u00a0 What we have been talking about in session 1 and session 2 is this idea of seeing the living Word through or rather in the written Word of God and again, here are the two verses, 2 Corinthians 3:18, \u201cBut we all with unveiled faith beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit.\u201d\u00a0 And then we see in John 1:14 what John says, \u201cAnd the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.\u201d\n\nSo Jim, how do we tie these two verses together.\u00a0 Here\u2019s what you need to understand, that as we read about how John beheld the glory of Christ in His first coming what Paul is saying is that we are also beholding Christ through the Word; as we\u2019re reading about John\u2019s beholding, which is what we\u2019ve done today, we too are beholding and we are being transformed from glory to glory and that is a work of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Have you thought about that?\u00a0 When you come to God\u2019s Word do you come with the understanding that you are beholding the glory of our Lord?\u00a0 Do you come to God\u2019s Word with the expectation of being transformed?\u00a0 I hope so.\n\nQuickly let me just sum this up with an expanded and an explained translation.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to combine these two verses.\u00a0 Here\u2019s what it would look like?\u00a0 \u201cAnd Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God\u2019s communication of His own personal essential being came so as to be born in human form and though total deity He was dwelling in that human form, even while among us, and we beheld and oh this is awesome, we beheld His glory, that radiant essence of God Himself, since Christ is the unique Son of God, an expression from the Father, full of the grace and the truth which are God\u2019s eternal and infinite character. \u00a0As we behold John\u2019s description of how he and the disciples beheld Christ we too are beholding Him as well, and as a work of the Holy Spirit are being made to grow in and into the glorious character of Christ.\u00a0 Hallelujah!\u00a0 We want to see the living Word and the written Word of God.\n\nLet\u2019s close in prayer.\u00a0 Abba, Father, we thank You for the amazing privilege we have to behold the glory of Your unique Son through Your written Word.\u00a0 We know that Your desire is that we not only take in biblical and spiritual information but that we might actually be touched and transformed and changed by beholding Him who is the living Word in and through the written word, even our Lord Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And Father, we pray this in Jesus\u2019 name, Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t