GOD WITH US : GRACE & TRUTH

Father, we ask that you would gently but deeply pour out your Holy Spirit upon us as we read your word and think upon your word.

Father, it's very easy for us to want to twist your word into the things that we want it to say, to twist your word into the things that we want to believe.

Father, you know as well, Father, how hard it is for us to actually attend to your word, how other thoughts will come into our mind that make it hard for us to actually dwell with your word and have your word dwell within us.

So we ask, Father, that you in your grace and mercy and kindness would help us, Father, to think upon your word, to hear your word, to have your word enter deep into our minds and hearts and wills, our very souls, so that your word will bear much fruit in our lives for your glory.

And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

So, I'm actually, we're actually looking at a passage of the Bible that, this morning, that for many years, in the early years of my Christian walk, I was afraid of.

There were certain ideas about the Christian faith that when I started to hear somebody trying to explain them to me, they made me sort of frightened.

I don't know why it was.

It's just maybe because it started to almost like make my mind hurt to try to get my mind around these ideas.

And when I couldn't get my mind around these ideas, it sort of frightened me.

And this is like a true confession, but it did.

And this whole idea that I would hear that, you know, I would think to myself one moment, if Jesus is both God and man, one moment, like, how can he be God and man?

And how, like, how could that work?

Does, like, how could he sort of exist before he was born and then be born?

And then, and like if he was man, who was like keeping the planets in their course?

And it just, it, trying to hear people explain it to me just sort of frightened me.

And, and so I almost wanted to keep turning away from it.

And, and so I, I'm looking, we were going to have a guest preacher this morning.

And, but he, he gave me good notice.

He wasn't able to come.

And I was originally going to finish my sermon series with verse 14.

So I thought, well, I'll just keep going 15 to 18, which is the, sort of the full prologue.

And, and then I looked at the text and it sort of brought back my memories of, of being afraid of these types of ideas.

Like, how is it that Jesus could be in the womb and be God?

And, and it was just, I, I, I was sort of frightened a little bit by it.

And I thought, oh, I'm going to get to just talk about it today.

And, you know, one of the things that helped me to understand this text, it was actually horror movies.

Which sounds very, very odd and bizarre.

And I, I don't watch very many horror movies.

I, I don't know, maybe my imagination's too active.

And I, and I just, I, I have a hard time with it.

And I have other problems with it as well.

But it was actually thinking about horror movies that actually started to give me a little bit of an idea about how to understand texts like this.

And actually a doctrine about Jesus.

So if you have your Bibles, please open them to John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

We'll start reading at verse 14.

But today we're looking at verses 15 to 18.

And if by chance you've forgotten your Bibles, we always have a few Bibles up here at the front.

You're welcome to take them.

You can keep them as a gift afterwards or you can return them afterwards.

It's up to you.

And, and we're going to look.

We'll start verse 14.

But it's, it's verse 15 where we start to enter into the, enter into the sermon.

And here's how it goes.

It's the great Christmas text.

And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

And we have seen his glory.

Glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth.

Here's our text.

John, that's John the Baptist, bore witness about him and cried out,

So in one level, this is teaching us a very, very simple truth.

It's teaching us that Jesus is both God and man.

That Jesus of Nazareth, in fact, is God and man.

And it's going to be, John is going to try to be burrowing home into us that this historical person that he knew,

that he watched him eat, he watched him get tired, he heard him speak,

he spent three years with him in close proximity,

that this historical person, Jesus of Nazareth,

that if we went back in time in a time machine,

we'd be able to see Jesus.

And maybe after lunch, we'd see that he had a little bit of parsley in his beard from his tabbouleh,

that he'd eaten at lunch,

and we'd see that he maybe had to, after walking for an hour,

that his feet were dirty and his hands maybe were dirty,

and he looked a bit sweaty.

And we'd see him be thirsty, and we'd see this human being.

But John wants us to understand that when we see Jesus of Nazareth,

we're not just seeing a human being,

we're seeing someone who is both God and man.

But he's not, he's not,

and I'll get to it because it's in the language and the text,

he's not like, I can't remember,

who was the heroine in the Shrek movies?

You know in the first Shrek movie,

she's a troll by night,

no, yeah, troll by night and a beautiful princess during the day,

which I can't remember her name.

There you go, Fiona.

So Jesus isn't sort of like Fiona,

sort of cursed by a witch,

and at night he's one thing,

and at day he's another thing.

He's not like Jacqueline Hyde,

sort of two contrasting personalities,

but they're both human personalities in the same person.

And Jesus isn't like the Borg,

which are bits and pieces of human beings,

and bits and pieces of machine,

and bits and pieces of a collective,

and a whole mishmash,

and ultimately sort of ravenous and devouring and evil.

And Jesus isn't like a little bit of God,

and a little bit of human.

The text is actually trying to tell us

in a very, very simple but powerful way,

and even grasping with the fact

that if Jesus actually is both God and man,

then there's sort of a,

before and after are going to mean

very, very radically different things for Jesus

than they do for you and me.

I was born on a particular day,

and before that,

I mean, I would have been in my mother's womb,

but before I was conceived,

I didn't exist at all.

And that's just what human beings are like.

That's what every human being is like.

And if Jesus is both God and man,

then that's going to all be sort of very complicated.

And this text captures it very, very beautifully.

So that when you read creeds

like the Athanasian Creed

that try to articulate it in a different way,

the creeds are just trying to articulate

the witness of the apostles,

the witnesses who actually knew Jesus.

And here we see, look in verse 15,

it's this very, very odd phrase.

John bore witness about him and cried out,

this was he of whom I said,

and here's the funny thing,

he who comes after me ranks before me

because he was before me.

And so what John is saying,

he who comes after me,

like if you read all of the gospels,

and John,

most scholars think that John

was the last of the four gospels to be written.

And so,

and I think,

and many scholars think

that John was aware of the other gospels.

And so John wrote,

decided that he would write his gospel

in a very, very different manner

to capture a different side of Jesus,

in a sense,

the more private side of Jesus

and the way he could privately talk sometimes.

And,

and,

and,

but it's,

it's clear from the witnesses of the gospels

that Jesus began his ministry

after John the Baptist did.

It's not clear from the records how long after,

but John was a well-known public figure

and Jesus was unknown.

And it's well-known from the gospels,

from the historical records,

that Jesus was actually baptized by John,

which could imply that John was greater than him.

But it's very,

very clear that John had disciples,

he had a public ministry,

he had a high public profile,

he was attracting crowds long before Jesus.

And,

and that sort of captures with this one,

when John says,

this was he of whom I said,

he who comes after me.

And then he says,

ranks before me.

And that's a perfectly good English translation.

And the original language,

it's saying that he's vastly superior to me.

He's incomparably greater than me.

And in the context of all of John's gospel,

in the beginning was the word,

and the word was with God,

and the word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through him,

without him was not anything made that was made.

In him was life.

And in earlier sermons,

we said that Jesus doesn't have life.

He is life.

Jesus doesn't have light.

He is light.

That Jesus,

John is saying,

okay,

Jesus came after me,

but he's vastly superior to me.

And then look how it finishes.

This was he of whom I said,

he who comes after me ranks before me,

because he was before me.

And that's,

once again,

a good English translation,

but in the original language,

it's even stronger.

It makes it clear that he's talking about the pre-existence of God,

the Son of God.

And here we get this mystery,

that God,

the Son of God,

who was at the beginning,

was there before the beginning.

In a sense,

if you read right from John 1 to the beginning,

and it's saying that the Father and the Son were together,

and they decided,

let's light this fuse,

which humanity will know is the Big Bang,

and have bang,

and have all of the galaxy sort of spring into existence.

And the God,

the Son of God,

was there,

because he was there from all eternity.

And the God,

the Son of God,

stands completely and utterly outside of time.

But this same God,

the Son of God,

sets aside his glory and splendor and divine prerogatives and appearance as God,

and his majesty.

And he sets all of these things aside,

but God cannot stop being God,

even though he set all of those things aside,

even in a sense that he's made himself,

excuse me,

completely and utterly naked,

so to speak.

He sets all of these things aside.

He can't stop being God.

And then there is a turning point in the entire story of creation,

where God takes into himself not only our human nature,

but our human flesh.

And not in some type of abstract, ethereal, ideal, idea way,

but the only way to be human is to live in space and time and history,

and to be born of the Virgin Mary,

and to walk amongst us.

And this second person of the Trinity,

who was before all people existed,

and caused all things to exist,

takes into himself our human nature,

and is born of the Virgin Mary,

and walks amongst us.

So on one hand,

there's only Jesus.

He's only one person,

but he has these two natures.

How did horror movies help me with this?

You know,

it's a very, very standard thing with horror movies,

of possession,

demonic possession.

And those of you,

not me,

but those of you who like watching those types of movies,

they have no problem.

There's no type of a struggle intellectually

with the idea that some hostile being

will possess another being.

And in some horror movies,

you get an odd mixture,

in the sense of the personality of the original person,

and this new being.

But we don't bat an eye at this idea

that there can be a being

that possesses another being.

And the Bible's not saying

that this is how it worked with Jesus,

but it's just,

it's portraying the same type of idea,

that there can be God,

the Son of God,

who takes into himself our human nature,

and he's still God,

and now he's human,

and he's completely human,

and he's completely God,

but you don't see flickers of him

going from God to man,

or different,

it's just,

he's just Jesus.

And you can't read the Gospels

without just being struck

with the sheer consistency of Jesus,

and his depth.

He never,

those of you who know mentally ill people,

or people who struggle with

different types of personalities,

or hear voices,

there's nothing of that in Jesus.

He seems sane,

and self-contained,

and purposeful,

and always himself.

And John wants to say

that as you're going to read now,

because what's going to happen

after verse 18

is John starts to tell

the actual story of Jesus.

He says,

well here's what John the Baptist

said to the Pharisees,

and Sadducees,

and here's what he said

to his disciples,

and then here's what his disciples

did when they saw Jesus,

and here's what Jesus said

to the disciples,

and here's what the disciples

said to Jesus,

and then here's what he did

when he went to a wedding,

and here's what he did

when he saw a sick person,

and here's,

and it goes on

and tells the story.

And John wants us to understand

that as you're reading the story,

he's making this outrageous claim

before you begin to read it.

That the one

that you're going to read about,

even though he comes after

John the Baptist,

is vastly superior

to John the Baptist,

in fact he's God,

because he actually,

as God,

existed before

the birth,

his birth.

Not in a reincarnation sense.

In fact,

this whole idea completely,

you can see how sort of

maybe through common grace

the idea of reincarnation

came to be,

and it got sort of misunderstood

that it was a type of a prophecy.

It wasn't a type of a curse

of endless existence,

but it was almost like

a type of a glimmer

or an idea

that God would come

amongst us in some way,

but the whole

enfleshedness aspect of it

completely and utterly

refutes,

but actually clarifies

this Eastern India,

Chinese type of

bit of an insight

about reality.

They just don't understand

that it's God

coming and taking on flesh

and walking amongst us.

But here's the big thing.

Andrew,

if you could put up

the next thing.

This is to lead us

to a particular type

of prayer.

And, you know,

one of the things

I can do,

you know,

if you came here

this morning hoping

that I was going to give you

a whole pile of

practical applications

that would mean

that you can get out of debt,

get the promotion,

get the body you want,

you know,

get the kids you want,

get the husband

or wife you want,

I mean,

we're not going to do that today.

In fact,

we don't usually do it.

But I can maybe help you

to learn how to pray.

And whether or not

you say that prayer exactly

or just are influenced by it,

you know,

the Gospel of John

is teaching us

to pray a prayer like this.

And for some of us,

a prayer like this

is how we begin

to be the Christian life.

And for others of us,

it's just how we live

the Christian life

and grow the Christian life.

And so the Bible here

is encouraging us

to say to God

as we hear about Jesus

to turn to the Father

and to cry out

and say,

Dear God,

please grow in me

a humble,

trusting,

walking,

knowing

of the greatness,

glory,

and grace

of Jesus Messiah.

You might notice

I put that odd idea

of walking in there.

and that's because

ultimately

to know Jesus

is to change

the way we live.

We don't change

the way we live

so that Jesus

will pay attention to us

and think that we have

an exemplary life.

That doesn't work.

We're going to see that.

But when you come,

the Bible wants us

to walk with Jesus.

It's an image

of how we do our day.

You know,

you get out of bed,

your feet go on the floor.

You know,

if you're like me,

you go to the bathroom,

then you immediately

go to the kettle,

plug the kettle in

because I'm going to

make a cup of coffee,

go to the toaster,

put the toast bread in

for toast,

go to the fridge

for my yogurt,

and the day proceeds

until at the very,

very end of the day

I take my weary feet

off the floor

as I lay down in bed

and I sleep

and the next morning

I get up,

I walk through my day

and that's what

we want to do.

We want to learn.

We want to learn

by God's grace

to walk with Jesus.

That whether we are

dealing with problems

in our body,

problems in our marriage,

problems in our family,

problems with our kids,

problems with boss,

problems with finances,

any type of problems

or opportunities

and great adventures,

round the world tours,

spectacular promotions,

whatever it is

that we are to pray,

dear God,

please grow in me,

please grow in me today

and every day

a humble, trusting,

walking,

knowing

of the greatness,

glory,

and grace

of Jesus Messiah.

As we deal

with all of these things,

the birth of a child,

the death of a loved one,

that we walk

with Jesus,

knowing Jesus

and walking

and knowing

and humbly trusting

his greatness,

his glory

and his grace

and Jesus Messiah.

and so if you have

an IQ through the roof

and a disciplined mind,

you can meditate

and dwell

and think upon

to great heights

the mystery

of God,

the son of God,

setting the big bang

in motion

and yet

taking on flesh

and walking amongst us

and maybe some of us,

our IQ

is south of a hundred

and our attention span

is like a hummingbird

and meditation

is probably never

going to be our thing.

It's probably never

going to be our thing

but we can pray

that we have

a humble,

trusting,

walking,

knowing

of the greatness,

glory,

and grace

of Jesus Messiah

and that's what we can pray.

So some of you might say,

okay, George,

this sounds really great

but you know,

so he comes

and he's great like this

but George,

the fact of the matter

is that there are

so many Christians

that I meet

that they just look like

they wake up in the morning

and they suck a lemon

and all day long

they suck lemons

and they are just,

they're like that

Peanuts character

that walks around

with a cloud

over their head

and it's pouring rain.

I'm reading a novel

right now

by a fellow

from Mississippi

and the novel

is set

in northern Mississippi

to Pilo

or something,

I don't know,

I can't probably pronounce

with a Mississippi drawl

that I can't master.

Anyway,

and one of the characters,

her father's

an evangelical pastor

and her comment

about part of it

is her dealing

with her father

and her father,

you know,

he just sucks

the joy out of life.

He's a negative view

of everybody

that he meets.

He's always looking down

his noses at people

and she comments

that he just,

all he wants to do

is read the Bible

and die

so he can go to heaven

and drink lemonade

and drink lemonade

and square dance.

And until he dies

and can drink lemonade

and square dance

in heaven,

it's just,

everything is just,

you know,

you can't enjoy food,

it's just a completely

unenjoyable life.

And so,

you know,

some of us

at a very,

very deep level

have this fear

that if we get close

to Jesus,

that what's going to

have to happen

is that we,

you know,

if I get close to Jesus,

I can't watch football

all Sunday afternoon

because I should be

reading the Bible

and praying

and I should be going

to prayer meetings

and I can't just,

I don't know,

put my feet up

and grab a bowl

of macaroni and cheese

and jalapeno potato chips

and something to drink

and just watch the football game

and enjoy it.

Like,

if I get too close to Jesus,

it's just going to suck

the joy out of life.

And at a deep level,

many of us fear that.

And many in our culture

fear it.

And some of us

give them cause

to fear it.

That that's what's going

to happen

if you give your life

to Jesus.

That, you know,

you don't have to be

a missionary.

You can just have a job.

Like,

that's fine.

Like,

God can call you to that.

In fact,

he calls most Christians

to that.

So,

is that what Jesus

is going to do?

What John sort of

deals with this,

he in a sense

deals with our

religious and spiritual

fears.

That what's going to

happen is that

when we read the

Gospels and read

about Jesus,

that what's going to

happen is it's just

going to be Jesus

imposing religion

upon us.

So,

let's go back

and look again.

We'll read verse 15

again and then we'll

read verse 16

where John sort of

addresses this fear

in advance

so that when we read

about Jesus,

every verse that we

read in the rest

of the Gospel of John,

we're to read it

mindful of these

verses.

So,

verse 15 it says,

John bore witness

about him,

Jesus,

crying out

and cried out,

this was he of whom

I said,

he who comes after me

ranks before me

because he was

before me.

And here's the verse,

and from his fullness

we have all received

grace upon grace.

That's a verse

worth memorizing.

It's a verse

worth memorizing.

And from his fullness

we have all received

grace upon grace.

There's two senses

to this

and the first part

I'm going to talk about

and then the second part

sort of leads into

verse 17,

the second sense.

And this is what

the text is saying.

Excuse me.

Jesus,

out of his fullness,

gives never-ending,

ever-deepening,

pure grace.

grace.

Jesus,

out of his fullness,

gives never-ending,

ever-deepening,

pure grace.

That's an image

that those of you

who are a little bit

familiar with the

writings of C.S. Lewis,

you can see that this

is where C.S. Lewis,

he sort of starts at it

from a literary way,

but it's actually a deeply

embedded idea

in the scriptures.

That it's as if

when you actually start

to taste a little bit

of God's grace,

the grace that comes

from Jesus.

And grace means

God's unmerited favor.

It means his kindly affection.

It means an ability

and power for you

to thrive.

And when you start

to taste a bit

of the goodness

and beauty

and holiness

and love

and mercy

and intimacy

that's completely

offered to us

by God,

that's unmerited,

that as we start

to taste a tiny bit

of that,

two different things

happen.

One is,

it's profoundly satisfying.

And at the same time

within us,

there's a type of

dissatisfaction

and hunger for more.

And even the hunger

of more,

for more,

is a pleasure.

And then,

as you drink more

of the grace of Jesus

and of our loving

Heavenly Father,

it's both satisfying

and creates a desire

for more,

which in and of itself

is a pleasurable desire

and there's more.

That the grace

that is offered

by Jesus

is a grace

that is never-ending.

It's a never-ending grace.

And it's an ever-deepening

grace.

And it's always pure grace.

And it's going to talk

to us in the Gospels

as John is going to

tell us later on

that the story

of Jesus

and the whole story

of Jesus

is to move forward

to his death

upon the cross.

Eventually,

or those of you

who were here

on Christmas morning

and I talked about

the word became flesh

and dwelt among us

full of grace and truth.

And we have seen

his glory.

Glory is the only

Son of the Father.

And if you follow

the idea

through the Gospel,

the time that Jesus

says that you're now

going to see

the glory of God,

in chapter 13

and John 17,

Jesus says

you're now going to see

God's glory

in its fullness.

And he's talking

about his death

upon the cross.

That in Jesus'

death upon the cross,

the full glory

of God

is revealed.

And it's a glory

that is revealed

that the perfect,

holy,

just,

loving,

true God

bears in himself

and the person

of his Son

in himself

that which we

cannot fix

and deal with,

our darkness,

our rebellion,

our sin,

our shame,

our separation

from God,

every single thing

within us

that is in rebellion

against God

and keeps us

from him.

God,

who sees

that we cannot

deal with that,

he crosses

the infinite distance

from himself

and his holiness

to us

in the person

of his Son.

And Jesus

bears in himself

and upon himself

all of the darkness

and sin

of every human being

without exception.

It's done for us.

We have to receive it.

And it's an act

of grace.

It's an act

of unmerited

love

by Jesus

for you and me.

And he bears it

for us.

He tastes it

for us.

He takes its punishment

and all the consequences

for it

and he dies

upon the cross

so that we

come to Jesus

for asking

that the God

would grow within us

a humble, trusting,

walking knowledge

of the greatness,

glory, and grace

of Jesus Messiah.

And if you're at all

like me,

when I gave my life

to Jesus,

it was just a sense

that I needed more.

That there was

a hollowness

and a hole

within me

and I didn't

understand anything

about,

I didn't really

understand about

the cross

and I didn't really

understand all about

what Jesus had done

for me.

All I had

was a sense

that if I was

to come to Jesus,

I was coming

to light

and life

and grace

and that's all

I understood.

And then you

come to Jesus

and the knowledge

of his greatness

and glory

and what he accomplishes

for you on the cross,

there's this opportunity

for it to grow

and the more

it grows,

the more we can

be gripped

by the gospel

and what Jesus

has done for us.

Followers of Jesus

gripped by the gospel

and so able

to start to live

for his glory.

And John says

that as you're

going to hear Jesus,

you're going to hear

Jesus have conflicts

with religious people,

he's going to have

conflicts with

spiritual people,

there's going to be

this terrible thing

that takes several

chapters at the end

where he's accused

of terrible things

and people come up

and say lies about him

and all of his friends

leave him alone

and he dies

upon the cross

and he dies

and you're going to

hear all about this

but what you have

to understand

is it's all grace

that it's grace

upon grace

upon grace

that out of his fullness

he's going to offer this

and he offers

on the cross

and when we come

to Jesus

not only is it grace

that makes us

the child of God

by adoption

when we put our faith

and trust in him

but becoming more

like Jesus

learning to obey him

and walk with him

that we are dependent

upon God's grace

and when finally

Jesus returns

or we die

and we see Jesus

face to face

and then the new heaven

and the new earth

comes

and we have glorified bodies

that's grace as well

and what will we taste

in all of eternity

in the new heaven

and the new earth

grace upon grace

and then we will know

in fullness

here on this side

of the grave

we taste God's grace

but there's idols

in our heart

and there's rebellion

in our heart

and we're afraid

of God

and we want to try

to cover ourselves

with fig trees

and we don't always

taste that

go from grace

to a hunger

for grace

and it's

you know

even when we're redeemed

and even when we're adopted

and God's child

there's still that struggle

within us

and whatever type

of victory we have

still is due

to the grace

that comes from Jesus

but one day

we will know

face to face

and for all eternity

we will drink

of the grace

and favor

of almighty God

the living God

and his son Jesus

and the Holy Spirit

and every drink

of that grace

and unmerited favor

and love

and intimacy

and power

and goodness

that comes from God

will both satisfy

our souls

and create within us

a longing

and a yearning

for more

which in and of itself

is a great pleasure

and as we yearn

for more of God's grace

in the new heaven

and the new earth

so we will receive

and so we will be satisfied

and so we will be thirsty

and there is a grace

upon grace

that is promised to us

that if we were to even know it

in the tiniest bit

now would unmake us

and John says

this is who you're going to meet

in the pages

of the gospel of John

out of his fullness

his never ending

eternal

outside of time

abundance

one who will give

grace upon grace

and you becoming

God's child

that's grace

you becoming more like Jesus

that will be grace

your final glorification

that will be grace

it's always grace

Andrew if you could put up

the prayer game

you see this is why

John is encouraging us

the Bible is moving us

to pray

dear God

please grow in me

a humble

trusting

walking

knowing

of the greatness

glory

and grace

of Jesus

Messiah

that's what the Bible

is leading us

to talk about

there's a fellow

that I talk to

regularly

in Starbucks

he's sort of

an odd mixture

I can never tell

if he's an atheist

I actually think

he's an atheist

who's also

spiritual

not religious

and

I think

that's a great

contradiction

and I occasionally

try to talk to him

about how I think

that's a great

contradiction

but he both

sort of believes

that no God exists

but on the other hand

that we have to be

spiritual not religious

and

you know

he makes all these

claims about Jesus

but a week or two ago

I come into a Starbucks

and he beckons me over

I take my cord

he beckons me over

he has a loud voice

it's a small Starbucks

and he said

George

I just had somebody

read me a part

of the Bible

and

it's a story

about

people getting

these things

called minas

and at the end of it

people

don't want to

receive the king

and so he tells him

to kill

Jesus

says in this story

to kill the people

who don't want me

to be king

how could Jesus

say stuff like that

how could you

follow somebody

like that

and he goes on

what can you say

about it

and I start to say

a few things

he said what

and then he goes

on and on and on

with a loud voice

and I'm trying

not to be read

you know

because you don't

really want to

have a discussion

about judgment

and hell

and a loud voice

in a Starbucks

in Ottawa

in 2014

with who knows

what people

are thinking

and so partly

and he finally

says

you can say

nothing

you're speechless

and I say to him

no I can say

something

you just won't

stop talking

and then it was

so funny

he burst out

laughing

and said

put up his hand

like that

to give me a high five

he just was trying

to embarrass me

which you know

and he said

go get your coffee

you know

and then we talked

a little bit

about the text

and you know

all of that

type of stuff

at least

I don't know

where he's going

to end up

in all this

but at least

there's

you know

when you meet

him

there's

energy

right

like he's

he's

he's motivated

by this

by this

type of stuff

so

you know

here's the thing

he is right

on one hand

some of you

might say

George

I know you

just within

the last year

or so

you've preached

a sermon

on hell

and I know

you talk

about judgment

and Jesus

talks about

those things

so how does

grace upon

grace

fit with

all that

is it

or sort of

George

is it

sort of

one of those

things

that

you know

maybe you're

going to repent

of what you've

preached

and like

hell and all

is that

like Old Testament

type of stuff

and Jesus

is going to

tell us

just about

great

like what's

going on

George

well let's

go back

and see

because John

actually sets

the stage

to help us

to understand

that

let's go

back

well read

verse 15

16

it's in

verse 17

that he talks

about it

read verse 15

again

John bore witness

about him

that's Jesus

and cried out

this was he

of whom I said

he who comes

after me

ranks before me

because he was

before me

and from his

fullness

we have all

received grace

upon grace

for the law

was given

through Moses

grace and truth

came through

Jesus Christ

and at first glance

it looks like

in fact

sort of what

my friend was

saying was

sort of there

okay oh yeah

oh yeah

yeah there's the

Moses and all that

ten commandment

you know

yucky stuff

and then there's

grace

and in fact

my friend says

that he actually

thinks that I'm

not religious

he thinks I'm

spiritual

not religious

but promise

I still believe

in God

and the Bible

but

and so is that

what

is that what

the Bible

is saying here

that there's

this Moses

stuff that's

not grace

well remember

I said that

there's two

senses of

grace

upon grace

and the other

sense in Greek

is grace

following grace

and

and you can't

sort of translate

upon

I mean nowadays

maybe we put

upon

slash following

and it would

sort of work

but it's very

ungrammatic

if you want

to read it

but there's

the double

sense there

that of

grace

following grace

and you might

notice

in the text

that for the

first time

in the gospel

of John

I've been

just telling

you it's

Jesus

but

if you go

back to read

from verse

one

in the beginning

was the word

and the word

was with God

and the word

was God

he was in the

beginning

with God

all things

were made

through him

and without him

nothing was made

that was made

and the word

became flesh

and all of that

for the first time

we're told

that who John

the Baptist

is talking

who John

the Evangelist

is talking

about is Jesus

and he calls him

Jesus

Messiah

Messiah

in a few moments

during the

we're going to get

a thank you note

from our ministry

in Uganda

and those Ugandans

they say Messiah

in a wonderful way

I wish I could copy it

and say it the way

they do

but he's

that's the first clue

that so the first thing

is he can't

John here isn't saying

that Jesus is contradicting

the Old Testament

because he uses

when he introduces Jesus

he uses Messiah

in a sense

the long

that the Old Testament

is predicting a Messiah

and Jesus is introduced

as the Messiah

and grace follows grace

here's in fact

Andrew if you could put it up

here's in fact

what John is saying

Jesus does not contradict

the Old Testament

Jesus completes

the Old Testament

Jesus does not contradict

the Old Testament

Jesus completes

the Old Testament

you see even the Old Testament

is grace

one grace

is that even those

laws

even those rules

you know you shouldn't

commit adultery

you shouldn't steal

you shouldn't bear

false witness

you shouldn't have idols

you shouldn't abuse

the name of God

etc. etc.

on one hand

it's the grace

if God in fact

if we have been created

and God creates us

it's a grace

to have the owner

clarify

the owner's manual

for us to live

on Christmas morning

after I came back

from the service

we were going to have

for a Christmas meal

we were going to have

turkey and ham

and so

it was one of those

spiral

sort of pre-cooked hams

that you were

hooking up

and so

you know I said to Louise

I said how do you cook this

and we sort of said

why don't we do it this way

so I said sure

let's put it in

so I put it in that way

and then after about

ten minutes

I thought you know maybe

I think there's instructions

like maybe I should read

the instructions

about how to cook this ham

like they probably know

how to do it right

and I looked it up

and sure enough

I would have led

to a completely dry

unedible ham

if I had just followed

my own inklings

and I looked and said

oh that's what you're

supposed to do

so you know I put the thing

a different way

and did a few different things

and even changed the temperature

and it was delicious

it was delicious

and on one hand

if the Old Testament law

is just God giving us

how to live

then that's a grace

actually

just like it was

actually good

that the makers

the producers

of the ham

told me how to actually

cook the ham

so that it would be delicious

and on one hand

it's a grace

if it's just even

proper instruction manual

but if you go

actually if you have time

let's just do it

look

go to the Ten Commandments

turn with me

to Exodus chapter 20

Exodus 20:1

verse 1

Exodus chapter 20

Exodus 20:1

verse 1

it's towards the beginning

of your Bible

and this is how we have to

like the Ten Commandments

are very central

to the law

to the Torah

to the Old Testament

and here's how it begins

and God spoke

all these words

saying

I am the Lord

your God

who brought you

out of the land

of Egypt

out of the house

of slavery

you shall have

no other gods

before me

now do you notice this

how does it begin

with grace

it begins with God

identifying himself

I am the Lord

your God

and then it talks

about what he's

graciously done

he is God

he is

your God

I am your God

I brought you

out of the land

of Egypt

out of the house

of slavery

I

by grace

delivered you

how shall you

then live

and the encouragement

is to understand

that it begins

with grace

God

identifying himself

in such a way

that he can be

our God

and we can be

his people

and that can only

happen after

he delivers us

and then after

we have received

his deliverance

the question

is asked

how shall

I then

live

how shall

we

then

live

and it's not

just the Exodus

version

look at the

Deuteronomy

version

Exodus is the

beginning of the

Exodus

Deuteronomy

is sort of

summary of the

whole thing

at the end

it's Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 5:6

chapter 5

verse 6

and you'll see

that the exact

same structure

is kept

there

that all

of those

do's and

don'ts

are to be

understand

from the

perspective

that God

desires to

be our

God

he delivers

us so we

can be his

God

and how

shall we

then live

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 5:6

chapter 5

verse 6

I am the

Lord your

God

who brought

you out of

the land

of Egypt

out of the

house of

slavery

you shall

have no

other gods

before me

the Old

Testament

is not

teaching us

certain ways

of living

so that we

can become

eligible for

grace

it's not

obey

and then

grace

but receive

God's grace

and then

obedience

receive God's

grace

and then

obedience

Jesus does

not contradict

the Old

Testament

Jesus

completes

the Old

Testament

there's a

grace

in all

of the

Old

Testament

law

and as

we bring

it into

ourselves

as the

Jewish

people brought

it into

ourselves

it was to

prepare us

to meet

Jesus

who is

grace

himself

and truth

himself

God

himself

light

himself

love

himself

who comes

to deliver

us

it's

deeper

grace

the Bible's

teaching

that's why

it's all

leading us

if you could

put up the

prayer again

Andrew

dear God

please grow

in me

a humble

trusting

walking

knowing

of the

greatness

glory

and grace

of Jesus

Messiah

very very

final thing

very briefly

sort of

running out

of time

I don't know

how many of

you have

watched the

television series

Broadchurch

it was a

huge sensation

in England

it's now

on Netflix

it's eight

episodes

and on

one hand

it centers

around the

story

of a

murder

of an

11 year

old boy

in a

small

tightly

knit

coastal

community

in England

a

community

where the

majority

of the

people

have lived

there

for a

long

time

and they

know

each

other

and they're

related

to each

other

and the

question

really

which runs

throughout

the entire

movie

is can

you ever

really

know

another

person

because

when they

ask the

family

and all

and others

well who

could have

done this

murder

they all

say well

nobody

could have

done this

murder

and so

one of the

things that

they play

with

throughout

things

as the

investigation

goes on

over the

eight episodes

is can