JOHN 1 SERIES: THIS IS JESUS
John 1:14
#John1
READ John 1:14 (NIV)
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
We are looking at just one verse today. One verse packed with meaning. In this one verse, the Apostle John again drives home the point that Jesus personally came to save us and wants each of us to accept Him as Lord and Savior.
There are two phrases we are going to focus on this morning:
“we have seen His Glory”
“full of grace and truth”
“WE HAVE SEEN HIS GLORY”
First, “we have seen His glory.” John has already shared with us that Jesus is God. Jesus is the True Light. Jesus is life. That means when people interacted with Jesus, talked with Him, ate with Him, listened to Him teach and preach, were healed by Him, laughed or cried with Him, or any other interaction people could see God’s presence blazing through Him. Jesus reflected God perfectly… meaning Jesus showed God’s glory. This was no accident. Jesus wanted people to see God and believe in Him. In fact, John 2:11 says after Jesus turned water into wine, “He thus revealed His glory, and His disciples put their faith in Him."
Jesus was a real flesh and blood person whose purpose was to reveal God to us. There has been no more specific revelation from God for us to understand Him other than Jesus Christ.
You see Jesus you see God.
You read Jesus’ words you are reading God’s words.
You see Jesus’ reactions you see God’s reactions.
In John 14:13 Jesus says, “And I will do whatever you ask in My Name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.” Later in John 17:4 Jesus also prays to God the Father, “I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work You gave Me to do.”
“FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH”
Second, “full of grace and truth.” Jesus handed out grace and truth on a regular basis through His actions, words, teachings, and miracles.
* Grace is getting something you don’t deserve from God and also the action of offering the same to someone else because of God’s boundless generosity of God to you.
* Truth, with a capital ‘T’ is the always right, correct, and consistent decision and definition of God Almighty on any subject.
These two words explain why Jesus did what He did on a consistent basis and more than anything these two words explain why Jesus died on the cross for you and for me. The cross is grace incarnate. The cross is truth incarnate. Jesus was full of grace motivated by love, therefore, He died for you and me while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8). Jesus was full of truth sealed by His divine nature which was how He was able to pay for our sins on the cruel cross.
* The Good News (Gospel) is that because Jesus is full of grace and truth that we (anyone) can come to Jesus and be forgiven of our sins.
* The Good News (Gospel) is that because Jesus is full of grace and truth that we (anyone) can be adopted into God’s family and become a child of God.
* The Good News (Gospel) is that because Jesus is full of grace and truth that we (anyone) can trust that Jesus was and is Who He says and we can trust what He did on the old rugged cross.
Again, in this one verse, the Apostle John again drives home the point that Jesus personally came to save us and wants each of us to accept Him as Lord and Savior and does so by highlighting that “we have seen His Glory” and He came “full of grace and truth.”
ILLUSTRATION… https://www.lifeway.com/en/articles/sermon-hello-my-name-is-jesus-i-have-come-john-1
She was fifteen and he was seventeen when they met. All through high school, they dated and, after high school, it was not a surprise to anyone that they were married. Four years later, she was standing in her kitchen with a pile of dirty dishes in the sink, two children at her feet, and a pile of dirty diapers in the corner. Tears were streaming down her face. Looking back, she could never be quite sure why she made the decision, but she did. She took off her apron and walked out.
She called that night and her young husband answered the phone. He was, understandably, quite worried and, also, quite angry. "Where are you?" he said, his concern and his anger fighting for control of his voice.
"How are the children?" she asked, ignoring his question.
"Well, if you mean have they been fed, they are. I've also put them to bed. They are wondering, just as I am, where are you? What are you doing?"
She hung up the phone that night, but it wasn't the last of the phone calls. She called almost every week for the next three months. Her husband, knowing that something was seriously wrong, began, in those phone calls, to plead with her to come home. He would tell her that the children were with their grandparents during the day and were well cared for. He would tell her that he loved her. He would tell her how much they all missed her and then he would try to find out where she was. Whenever the conversation turned to her whereabouts, she would hang up.
Finally, the young husband could stand it no longer. He took their savings and hired a private detective to find his wife. The detective reported that the run-away wife was in a third-rate hotel in Des Moines, Iowa. The young man borrowed the money from his in-laws, bought a plane ticket and flew to Des Moines. After taking a cab from the airport to the hotel, he climbed the stairs to his wife's room on the third floor.
If you had been there, you would have seen the doubt in his eyes and you would have noticed the perspiration on his forehead. His hand trembled as he knocked on the door. When his wife opened the door, he forgot his prepared speech and said, "We love you so much. Won't you come home?"
She fell apart in his arms. They went home together.
One evening, some weeks later, the children were in bed and he and his wife were sitting in the living room before the fire. He finally got up enough courage to ask the question that had haunted him for so many months. He asked, "Why wouldn't you come home? Why, when I told you over and over again that I loved you and missed you, didn't you come home?"
"Because," she said with profound simplicity, "before those were only words. But then you came."
SUMMARY/CHALLENGE
Jesus came and perfected reflected God and was full of grace and truth. Jesus saves. Jesus saves. You can trust Him. You can trust Him. You see God is not impersonal and far away, but planned to come and be one of us in order to save us. May you rest in His grace and truth today.
CLOSE IN PRAYER
