Grace for Grace in and by Jesus (John 1:10-18) (1/4/26)

Before we begin this morning, I want to just

remind us of something and maybe give you insight

into part of the patterns of our worship. Worship

should be designed for the bookends of life,

okay? Your children and the elder. The more things

that we are able to do in our services every

week, right? Responsive prayers. saying the glory

potray, all of these things that we do again

and again, the confession, all these things that

we do again and again bless our children. They

learn, they memorize, they're drawn to God. And

yes, even too, when you become an older person

and body and mind begin to fail, those patterns

are there instilled in your person by the power

of the Spirit to be a blessing and a comfort.

So if you ever wonder why we repeat things, repeat

things, it's for the bookends of our congregation,

both the children and those who are growing older.

Let us now turn our hearts and minds towards

the preaching of God's word. Let us ask him for

his blessing. Almighty God or Heavenly Father,

we give thanks unto you once again that you have

guided us safely, joyfully through all the tribulations

of this world. We thank you that in all these

things, You have been at work making all things

work together for good for us in Christ Jesus.

Give us therefore as we petition you grateful

hearts that day by day that we thank you as we

ought, that we might know that we are surrounded

not by a world full of evil, but surrounded by

your grace and your providential care, by your

mercy and your love. We ask now that you would

let the words of my mouth and the meditations

of all our hearts acceptable in your sight oh

Lord Jesus our incarnate Redeemer full of grace

and truth amen amen so as we prepare to look

at our gospel reading today I want to give you

three things to think about as we go through

this passage three things to think about as we

go through this passage first of all Jesus Christ

is the creator and Redeemer and he came Jesus

Christ, the Creator and Redeemer, came. Second,

Jesus loves us so much that He dwelt in flesh

with us. Jesus loves us so much that He dwelt

in the flesh with us. And finally, Jesus brought

us grace and truth. Jesus brought us grace and

truth Let's hear our gospel reading once more

John chapter 1 beginning in verse 10 He and of

John 1 · chapter mention

course he here is Jesus He was in the world and

the world was made through him and the world

did not know him He came to his own and his own

did not receive him But as many as received him

to them he gave the right to become the children

of God to those who believe in his name who were

born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,

nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word

became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld

His glory, and the glory as the only begotten

of the Father, full of grace and truth. John

bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, This

is He of whom I said, He who comes after Me is

preferred before Me, for He was before Me. and

of His fullness we have all received grace for

grace. For the law was given through Moses but

grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No

one has seen God at any time. The only begotten

Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has

declared Him. These are the words of Almighty

God. Receive them in your hearts. Greetings this

11th day of Christmas. If we look around, people

have begun taking down their Christmas decorations,

putting away their lights, discarding their Christmas

trees, although some of them, and I heard someone's

planning a big party at their place tonight to

burn your Christmas tree. All the fireworks that

brings. And some folks are boxing up their nativities.

if they've had them at all. The parties are over,

the wrapping paper is long gone. For many, their

world has been restored to its previous state.

If Christmas has any peace for those outside

of the church, it is found in remembering some

type of sentimentality of peace from a little

child born long ago who has no relevance to their

lives. For the unbeliever in our country, the

goodness of the birth of Jesus is countered by

the Herod -like disposition to murder babies

in abortion, simply for these people to have

their own self -preservation and pleasures. For

the Church, however, Jesus Christ and Christmastide

is a season of 12 days of rejoicing. For us,

it's 12 days of the coming of our Lord and Savior

who delivers us from the bondage of sin and death.

12 days of gift giving, feasting, glorifying,

and praising God for His appearance in the flesh

so that our sins may be forgiven. Now for some

of you, you may be very new to the idea of the

church calendar. or that there's 12 days of Christmas.

And my emphasis to you isn't so much how you

do it, right? But you have to understand that

the coming of the Lord Jesus is so spectacular

event, one day will not do. Every day during

the 12 days, you should do something. Sing carols,

eat a piece of candy, drink a glass of wine.

Those things that are set before you as things

to rejoice. Do those things. Rejoice in the great

coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It's

not something to just be put away There is no

cross without the birth. There is no deliverance

from sins So don't celebrate it get rid of all

the signs of it act as if it was nothing Now

the gospel of John unlike the other Gospels gets

right down to it about who Jesus is Think about

this now Matthew begins with the genealogy of

Jesus showing that he is both the son of Abraham

and of David in Abraham the son of promise Jesus

is the son of promise who would bring blessings

to all the families of the earth we see that

in Genesis 12 and Jesus as the son of David is

the king whom David calls Lord right David who

who so many of Israelite descendants. They think

David, he was the epitome of everything. He's

the greatest king we ever had. And David says

in Psalm 110, he calls Jesus his Lord. The Gospel

of Mark begins with Jesus as the Son of God,

the messenger of the covenant in whom the Father

delights. Look it up. And that is quoting Malachi

Malachi 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3. Luke begins his gospel with the emphasis

of a priest who has a barren wife, who has given

a child, the forerunner of the Messiah, whose

name would be John. John's name means Yahweh

is a gracious giver. He's come to proclaim the

greatest gift that Yahweh has ever given. Jesus

Christ. Luke goes on to unfold the wonder and

majesty of the virgin conception of Jesus in

Mary by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit

as predicted in Isaiah 11. These first three

gospels point to Jesus' birth as the fulfillment

of 4 ,000 years of promises of the coming Savior

who would be wounded by the serpent but would

crush the serpent's head. Though the wound from

the great serpent looked like a crushing and

devastating blow and defeat Jesus delivers the

head -crushing blow and his atoning death on

the cross resurrection and ascension Even in

the midst of darkness and trouble we talked about

this last week all of the things stacked against

Mary and Joseph all the plottings by Herod all

of those things that just looked like it wasn't

working out and yet God showed us as we looked

at portions of Matthew last week on the first

Sunday of Christmas we saw that despite how everything

didn't look like it was coming together God Himself

had ordained these and predicted all of these

things in His Word. In Jesus coming the people

of Israel And all the families of the earth had

the fulfillment of all of the promises of God

to his people. In Jesus is found the fulfillment

of the great and winding story of Israel. In

Jesus' coming is found the end of the old creation

bound in sin and death under the covenant head

of Adam. In Christ Jesus, the second Adam, the

firstborn of the new creation, He so was now

our new covenant head and so the new heavens

and earth are brought to his people What a time

of rejoicing and it's rejoicing after a long

and tumultuous wait I Remember when I was a young

man How much I look forward to getting married

At first it was just this vague idea this hope

that I would find a good woman Then I met Rachel

and then my hope had substance But the reality

of marriage was prolonged by a lengthy 18 month

engagement filled with distance trials and hardships

Even when we were able to be reunited and live

in the same city. We didn't get married for another

nine months Sometimes it felt as if the wedding

day would never come. Life was a blur during

the last six weeks before the wedding. Rachel

returned back to her parents three hours away.

So what I did is I took my days off and I packed

them together. And so I was working shift work

at McDonald's. I'd get off at two o 'clock in

the morning, drop all my employees off, and then

hightail it driving three hours. And of course,

the hardest part of that trip every week Was

connected with the last 15 minutes Before the

Sun comes up. I've been working all day. I'm

tired Right up. It's now halfway through the

night and that 445 to about five o 'clock. It

was a drag I'd be turn the music up chewing gum

singing as loud as I could to stay awake All

that so I could see my beloved for a couple of

days Then on Friday morning at 11 .30 a .m. I

jump in the car and drive straight three hours

back to work. By the time we got to the week

of the wedding, I was exhausted. I was drained.

When I came back to town to get married, I showed

up where I was told, I wore what I was told,

and I was so drained. that I even took a nap

right before my rehearsal dinner. Well, the day

finally did come. And when my bride came down

the aisle, I was absolutely overwhelmed. The

reality of the wedding ceremony brought the feasting

and rejoicing not only to me, but to the whole

community. I never experienced a wedding quite

like this, because when we were all done, The

wedding we're having the reception and this is

tells you no older community In a farming area

all the women especially the older women came

around and we opened up every single gift so

they could all see what we got They were they

were so excited to see the gifts we were getting

a great rejoicing For Israel the coming of Christ

should have been this way Instead they say busy

in their darkened minds living under the rule

of the serpent. Jesus is going to find as he

goes out in his ministry that the synagogues,

the places of prayer and instruction in God's

Word are full of demons. There's little serpents

everywhere. So here in our text today we see

this difference. We see that God John's gospel

does away with the subtle tactics used in the

other three gospels You know the other three

gospels you get in pieces And it's sort of like

you have to build on it to totally get the picture

of who Jesus is and what's happening John does

away with the subtle tactics It reminds me of

Mike Tyson many of you might not know who he

was but he was quite the boxer in the day And

after a few of his fights went public The question

of fighting of his bouts was this. How many seconds

in the first round before Mike Tyson knocked

the guy out? Right? His punch was, if he got

you with that left hook, boy, you're out. I don't

care how tough you were. That's what John's gospel

is right here. He comes out and he just, pow,

here it is. John 1 -1. In the beginning was the

Word. The Word. was with God. The Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God. If there was

any doubt in a person hearing and understanding

who Jesus is in the first three Gospels, John

clears up who Jesus is. He's the Son of God.

He was with God. He is God. He's the creator

of all things. That is the beauty, the majesty.

the greatest thing in the incarnation that He

came for us. Verse 10 declares of John 1 that

Jesus was in the world and that the world was

made through Him. The Creator came into the world

and in their sinfulness the world did not know

Him. The scripture tells us that the heart is

deceitful above all things. The sinful heart

loves the darkness. We like Adam don't want to

present ourselves before God with our sinfulness

exposed. Yes, Adam and Eve had no clothes, but

more than that, nakedness means in the Bible

exposure. When God called them, they didn't want

to present themselves because their sinfulness

was exposed. All of their excuses. all of their

rebellion, all of the abdication, all of the

ways in which their hearts wanted to do evil.

I mean, we think about this for a second, right?

We find ourselves drawn to do wrong, and our

sinfulness is exposed. Jesus, it says in John

1, came to his own. Those who had over and over

again for generations heard and experienced and

seen the mercy of God and his faithfulness and

then his mercy and grace time and time again

not receive him in spite of God's Word given

his care his mercies and all the times that God

delivered his people Israel did not receive their

creator Redeemer if there's any warning for us

Sitting here today the church It should be this

You can have the right theology you can be part

of The best group of people you can be part of

the best church in town You can know everything

you can have the best library and have read them

all If you don't trust in Jesus, if your trust

is in your church, in your theology, in your

school of thought, in anything other than Jesus

Christ, you're lost. As a matter of fact, Isaiah,

right in chapter 1, beginning of verse 3, he

says this of the people of Israel. Right so right

in the beginning all these promises that are

fulfilled in Christ Jesus that you see in the

book of Isaiah Right there in verse 3 at the

very beginning Says the ox knows its owner and

the donkey his master's crib in other words the

place where he eats But Israel does not know

My people do not consider later on in chapter

1 God Calls Israel a sinful nation totally turned

backward They're facing away from all of God's

promises God comes and what do they do they turn

their back One of my brother Stephen he was deaf

and When he got to be a teenager one of the things

that he would do if he was being corrected by

my mom She'd be talking to him And if he didn't

want to hear it, he'd just do this. He'd close

his eyes. And I'd be in the corner kind of laughing.

But I'm like, well, he can shut her out. You

know, that's what Israel was doing. The Son of

Promise, God Himself, the Redeemer of the world,

He comes. And He brings all this grace, all this

truth, all this blessing, all this mercy. This

is what they do I'm turning away. I want to do

my own thing John declares that the word the

second person of the Trinity who was with God

from the beginning and is God became flesh and

dwelt among us God so loved the world that is

planned for deliverance and reconciliation was

having Jesus reveal God by being here on earth.

By Jesus speaking, touching, and mourning, and

laughing, and living, and dying, and yes, being

raised from the dead. Jesus in His coming in

the flesh revealed the glory of God. Jesus was

full of grace and truth. 1st Colossians 1 reminds

us that as Christians we know the grace of God

in truth Now here's here's the thing truth is

a wonderful thing but truth alone Leaves us in

the despair of our regrets and guilt and sin

After all if all you have is truth, you know

who God is And you know he's holy and you know

you're not There's no hope Jesus though he brings

forth hope and assurance in the fullness of grace

that makes truth a way to life and not a lock

on the coffin we hear in the middle of John's

proclamation of who Jesus is, a reminder of the

witness of John the baptizer, the greatest and

last prophet who cried out that Jesus was greater

than he because Jesus existed before him. If

you look at the story, you see that Elizabeth

was pregnant with John before Jesus. That's not

his point. His point is he recognized that Jesus

had always been. but now he had come in the flesh

dearly beloved in Christ's divinity and humanity

dwelling here on earth in real time in history

Jesus has brought us out of the fullness brought

us out of sin by the fullness of His grace and

we have received grace for grace now when we

read that in English translation we're like what

in the world is this? Some kind of weird thing

going on here, but must be extra good because

it's twice right well Augustine had his view

on it, which was a good one Calvin said that's

good, but I think it's more All right here it

is In Christ Jesus incarnation we receive out

of the overflowing abundance of his grace the

goodwill loving kindness and the favor of our

God. I want to say that for you one more time.

In Christ Jesus incarnation we receive the overflowing

abundance of His grace. That is His goodwill,

His loving kindness, and the favor of our God.

Now we receive both grace in the once and for

all atoning work Christ Jesus on the cross for

the remission of our sins. That's the first grace

and praise God for that He doesn't leave it there

We also continue in the overflowing abundance

of his grace as he sanctifies us by conforming

us to himself Increasingly more and more every

day. So we have the first grace The atoning work

of Jesus on the cross, we're justified. But His

grace doesn't end there. He doesn't leave us

to just be barely getting by, but rather He gives

us more grace. That's still abundant grace, overflowing

grace, as He sanctifies us, as He blesses us,

as He draws us in. In verse 17 of John 1, it

says this. For the law was given through Moses,

but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

You see, law or truth alone does not deliver

us. Right? So Moses coming, bringing the word,

bringing the law, it's not enough. All it does

is show us our shortcomings. Right? Romans 7

reminds us. that we would not have known sin

except for the law. So when God gives us the

law, it's to help us understand what's in our

hearts. That's actually what God says to the

people of Israel. He says, I put you in the wilderness.

Would I do that for? To show you what was in

your hearts. And Romans 7 continues and says,

but sin taking the opportunity by the commandment

produced in me all manner of evil desires. Now,

here's the thing. Once we know what we're supposed

to do, the temptation grows immensely to do that

thing we're prohibited from. I love little children,

because little children just show us who we are.

If parents, if you want to know what your greatest

weaknesses are, look to your children, and it

is your sin magnified. So if you take a small

child, and they're walking over there, and you

see the socket in the wall, And they pause and

they look at it. You say, no, no, don't touch

that. What do they want to do above all else?

They want to touch that socket. They don't know

what it does. You can tell them it'll hurt you.

They're like, yeah, but what level hurt? It'll

kill you. I don't even know what that means.

That's what they want to do. That's what the

law does to us. If all you have is the law, if

all you have is the truth, all you do is desire

to do that. If we know the law, but do not know

Jesus, we cannot know grace and truth. That's

the order of things, grace and truth. You see,

we have to have God's grace at work on our heart

for truth to be a way of life. By God's providence,

God in Christ Jesus chose His elect. God's gracious

will in Christ Jesus delivers us from all sin

and guilt. Now John finishes this passage out

by making it clear that no one has seen God.

But the only begotten Son, Jesus, who came in

the flesh as a man, has declared God to us. That's

really important. You want to know God? Read

what Jesus said. Wait a minute. More than that,

read the whole Bible. For the whole Bible is

the Word. Jesus is the Word. So every word of

the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, Old Testament,

New Testament, is all Jesus declaring God the

Father to us. The only way to be reconciled and

to know God is in Jesus. During these final days

of Christmastide rejoicing, rejoice. Jesus, the

eternal Son of God, came to bring grace and truth

to us, His people. We are His people. That abundant

loving kindness of our God Jesus came to bring

us this He is the creator the lifegiver the Prince

of Peace the only begotten Son of God and he

came and Marvelously dwelt here on earth He was

resurrected and is ascended to the right hand

of the Father until what? So as the feasting

comes to an end, as you put your final decorations

away, as you put the last pieces of your nativity

set in the box, you may have fears, you may have

worries, and you may have uncertainties in what

the future brings. Every one of us, or as we

like to say here, all y 'all, We would be well

advised to remember that Jesus Christ the creator

and Redeemer came and That he loved us so much

that he dwelt with us in the flesh So here it

is So rest in Christ You finished work of Christ

Jesus on the cross and because you're resting

in him Share the hope the peace the joy and the

love that is only found in the incarnation of

Jesus. Let us pray. Our Father, how great and

marvelous is Your work, Your word and Your grace

and mercy to us in Christ Jesus. Make us strong

in Him that we might be communicators of the

word of life, even as the world, having separated

itself from the Lord of glory, goes dumb in its

speechlessness. and in its isolation from the

Lord. Bless us in your service. In Christ's name

we pray, amen.