INTRODUCTION
Windows are an important part of a building. They allow the occupant to see what is going on in the world around them and it allows the world to peek in on and see what the occupant is doing.
Before we got our drapes, the neighbors used to tell us that they enjoyed watching us eat.
Businesses understand the importance of windows because it allows them to entice potential shoppers to come into their store and shop. A storeowner will spend a lot of time making sure that their main window looks appealing to people passing by. A window allows the chance to stop and look in and see what is there.
Throughout time man has sought ways to see God or to make a connection with Him. Throughout time man tried all sorts of ways to do it.
During man’s history, God has reached out to man because He loved man. God created Adam and Eve, and communicated with them, then they sinned and God caste them out of the garden.
God revealed a bit of Himself through Moses and the 10 Commandments.
During Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’s time God communicated with man through these men. Hebrews 1:1-3, the passage that Shirley opened our service with tells us that God has spoken to us through Jesus.
Mankind has longed to see God and connect with Him. This explains the reason that throughout history mankind has been religious. The emptiness that we experience and the inner desire to see God and connect with Him has driven mankind to be religious.
Today we are going to see that Jesus is the window to God. Though Jesus we can see the glory of God, through the window of Jesus we can see grace and truth in full and we can see the very essence of God through Jesus.
As you get to know Jesus, you will get to know the Father. Thought Jesus you will be able to see God and connect with Him.
SERMON
I. THROUGH THE WINDOW OF JESUS GOD REVEALS HIS GLORY. Verses 14-15
A. The world was able to see the glory of God through Jesus.
The reason that the world was able to see the glory of God through the window of Jesus is because Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us.
He literally pitched His tent to live among temporarily.
This passage tells us that Jesus became flesh.
S.D. Gordon (summarizing John 1:14) noted: "Jesus is God spelling Himself out in language that men can understand." Bruce Demarest, Jesus Christ, The God-Man, p. 41
How many religions of the past and present try to cloak God in some way that you cannot understand Him? In the New Age movement, God is just a force, in Hinduism, God is something that cannot be seen.
God made Himself easy to understand be sending Jesus to represent Him. People could not relate to the gods of Greece or Rome.
B. We beheld His glory.
Beheld His glory.
To behold does not mean to blindly stare at, but to contemplate, to learn by looking and observing. John writes to following in:
1JO 1:1-2 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us
Moses saw the Glory of God; Isaiah saw the glory of God. Isaiah was so in awe of God that it changed his life.
The Israelites who wandered in the wilderness saw a representation of the glory of God through the Shekinah cloud that lead them through the wilderness.
When we see the glory of God, it should do something to us, it should change us, this is why reading God’s word is so important, we see the glory of God through Jesus, and Jesus is revealed to us in the Bible by eye witnesses such as John.
C. Glory
Glory means splendor, majesty, that which brings honor and praise to someone.
In the Old Testament God revealed Himself though the Shekinah cloud that lead the Israelites through the wilderness.
God’s glory was so great that when Moses was with God on the mountain in Exodus 34:29 his face shone with God’s glory. The people were afraid to come near him. Moses had to cover his face when he spoke to the people.
JOHN 2:11 This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. The miracles that Jesus did brought glory to Him from the disciples.
The coming of Jesus reveals just how glorious the Father is. Jesus is one of the things that bring honor and praise to the Father.
READ JOHN 17:20-24
We need to understand how glorious our God is so that we will not take Him for granted. When we see the glory of God through Jesus, we will want to give our lives to Him and serve Him.
II. THROUGH THE WINDOW OF JESUS GOD REVEALS TRUTH AND GRACE (Verses. 14, 16-17)
A. God reveals His truth through Jesus.
In verse 17, John tells us that the Law came through Moses, but that grace and truth came through Jesus.
Before the crucifixion, Pilate asked Jesus the question, “What is truth?” (John 18:38)
Jesus Christ is the Embodiment of truth (John 14:6). He is the picture of truth. God not only talks to man about Himself; God shows man what He is like in the person of Jesus Christ. Man can look at Jesus Christ and see a perfect picture of the truth of God.
The Law revealed the truth that man couldn’t get to God by his own merit. ROMANS 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The Law gave us a glimpse of God. The Law showed us the truth about the justice side of God. Break the Law and pay the price. Jesus gives us a full picture of God.
The Law showed us that we couldn’t make it to heaven on our own merit. This is the truth that was revealed through Jesus. The religious leaders of the day did not grasp the truth. They thought that they could get to heaven because of their own goodness and righteousness.
When we look at Jesus, we see the truth about ourselves. We see that we are not as perfect as we once thought.
B. Jesus reveals the grace of God.
The Law did not supply grace; it just showed where we needed to change.
GALATIANS 3:24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.
ILLUSTRATION. SPEEDING TICKET. Law vs. grace.
Grace is unmerited favor. USE EXAMPLE. It is getting something you do not deserve. NO SPEEDING TICKET.
Where the Law was weak, God’s grace is strong. Grace says, that I know that you will not be perfect, so I will make up to difference if you belong to me.
ROMANS 8:3-4 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
The grace of God is found through Jesus!
The grace of God can change the world. When Paul experienced the grace of God, he was a changed man. When you experience God’s saving grace, you too will be a changed person. Many of us do not think that we need God’s grace because we do not have a proper understanding of ourselves. We compare ourselves to each other instead of Jesus.
C. The only way that we can see the grace and truth of God is by looking through Jesus.
Verse 14 tells us that Jesus is the ONLY BEGOTTEN of God. The language here tells us that Jesus is the ONE AND ONLY of HIS kind. There never has been and there never will be another like Him. If another claims to be what Jesus was when He was God in the flesh, they are not because the Word tells us that Jesus is the one and only son, that He is unique.
Verse 14 also tells us that Jesus is full of grace and truth.
This means that Jesus completely full of truth and grace.
Everything that Jesus did reflected truth and grace. Jesus healed people, not because they earned or deserved it, but because of His grace. Jesus offers salvation to those who will become immersed into Him, not because we earn or deserve it, but because of His grace.
Jesus forgives sin not because we deserve it, but because of His grace. READ ROMANS 5:18-6-4
Verse 16 tells us that through Jesus, we (those who receive Jesus in verse 12) all receive grace and truth through Jesus. Since Jesus is so full of grace and truth, He can give to us abundantly. Through Jesus, God’s grace does not run out on you.
III. THROUGH THE WINDOW OF JESUS GOD REVEALS HIMSELF TO MAN. Verse 18.
A. God had revealed Himself throughout the Old Testament period. God revealed Himself through theophanies, visions, and dreams.
READ HEBREWS 1:1-4 FOCUS ON VERSE 3.
JOHN 14:6-7 Jesus *said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have Seen Him."
B. READ 2 CORINTHIANS 3:15-18
1. God did not fully reveal Himself through the Law. The only way that you will find God is through Jesus.
2. The reason that people can change and the world can change is because through Jesus we can see God.
3. 2 Corinthians tells us that as we behold the glory of God, we are being transformed into the image of God. TALK ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF THAT TO REACHING OTHER PEOPLE. WHAT IF THE APOSTLES HAD NOT CHANGED.
4. This passage tells us that we must behold God to be changed into His likeness.
CONCLUSION
Why did God send Jesus? He did it so that we could see His glory, so that we could see the truth and so that we could see the grace of God in full.
C.S. Lewis said, “The Son of God became man to enable men to become the sons of God.” -- Mere Christianity. Christianity Today, Vol. 38, no. 14.
God sent Jesus so that we could see HIM!
The way that we get people to want to become a Christian is to let them see God though us as we are being transformed into the image of God.
Is the way you live your Christian life important? Yes it is, because people will see Jesus living in you, and then they will want Him to live in them also!
I think that people struggle with living and serving because they have not taken the time to really know HIM. God sent His Son so that we could get a clear picture of Him.
Will you commit yourself to knowing Him in? Will you commit to giving Jesus a chance in your life? It is my hope that each one of us will strive to get to know Jesus in a more personal way; I guarantee you that if you do, you will not be the same ever again!
