Light in the World Pt. 5

if God’s people would take their
Bibles and turn to the Gospel of John once again. The Gospel
of John and we find ourselves in chapter one. One of the very noteworthy things
that I shared with a few different people about being in California
for a couple of weeks was the the ever-changing ethnic diversity
that is there. I think in over the past year we’ve
heard a lot about the borders and how many Hispanics have crossed
the border and that there was even a report while I was there
that Hispanics now outnumber Caucasians. But the amazing thing
to me in going to California and in seeing some of these areas
was the great diversity. Asians of all different country
and those from the Middle East and really people from across
the globe. It was just amazing to see how
rich the ethnic diversity is in California. But I had another thought in
that as I had occasion to drive a number of different routes
and some of that intentionally. I noticed a lot of different
ethnic churches and or religions. I noticed the different styles
of the architecture. I noticed the different languages
on the marquees. I noticed the different attire
that some of these different religions wore for
their worship. And I began to wonder, what’s the big deal about Jesus
Christ? Why so many different religions
and why are they so diverse and why are they so indifferent to
Jesus Christ? That’s exactly what John will
point to and deal with even this morning in this very passage.
What’s the big deal about Christ? There’s no one like him. There’s
no other God that even comes close. There is no other God
in reality. There is no Savior like the Lord
Jesus Christ. There is no one, no God-man who
came down to earth other than the Lord Jesus Christ. There’s
no one. No other religion’s deity paid
the price for sin like the Lord Jesus did. He is absolutely preeminent. I want to take you to John’s
Gospel once again this morning. We’re in the midst of that series,
Light in the World, where we are looking at the humanity and
the glory of Christ, and those two things are absolutely wedded
together. Not only in this passage, but
what it points to, in the Lord Jesus Christ we have full humanity
and full deity. And I want to take you all the
way back to verse 9 as we Take this passage in its completeness.
And as we look at these points, what we referred to previously
as points of light, beginning in verse nine, there was the
true light, which coming into the world enlightens every man. 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 those who were His own did not receive Him,
but as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to
become children of God, even 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 saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten
from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about
Him, and cried out saying, This is He of whom I said, He who
comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before
me. For of His fullness we have all
received, and grace upon grace. For the law was given through
Moses, but grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten God who is
in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. As I said, we pick up in midstream
into a study that we’ve already considered for many weeks. We’re
looking at the points of light in this passage and we’ve seen
four already. There in verse 9 we saw the light
and his effect. That the true light coming into
the world enlightens in some way every person ever born. Every person already knows that
there’s a God and what this passage says is that every person ever
born is in some way further enlightened by the Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps
we saw that it was even just the clarity that there is a deity
that would love His creation so much to be willing to send
His own Son into the world to pay for their sin. We saw also
the light in His general rejection. Not complete. Every person that ever came in
contact with Christ, but generally speaking, he was rejected. Look
at verse 10. He was in the world. The world
was made through him. The world did not know him. They didn’t
receive him as he was. They’re willing to treat him
as a prophet. Even many religions are willing
to treat Christ as a prophet. They’re willing to throw him
some kind of acknowledgement. But they don’t receive him as
he is. They don’t receive him as God. They don’t receive him
as God’s son who had paid the sin of the world. The third thing
we saw was the light in his general, pardon me, the light in his particular
reception. Generally speaking, he was rejected,
but he was received by a particular sector of humanity. Came to his
own, those who were his own did not receive him. But as many
as received him, even out of the Jews, not all of the Jews
rejected him. Some of them did receive. But
the great majority, at least initially, of those who came
to Christ were Gentiles. We saw that that was a work of
God. The fourth thing that we saw
was the light in his glory. the light in His glory and what
is perhaps one of the most astounding passages in the entire Bible
because it tells us about Jesus Christ. And the Word became flesh
and dwelt among us and we saw His glory. Glory is of the only
begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. It tells
us about Christ. But we come to the fifth. The
fifth point of light in this section is the light and his
preeminence. And for that we go to verse 15. So please allow me to just introduce
this potentially challenging section. And I say potentially
because if we’re not careful, we’re going to get mixed up as
to who’s actually doing the speaking here. The Apostle John, the author
of the Gospel, introduces a quote by John the Baptist. And historically,
those who have translated this into a variety of different translations
have placed quote marks in all kinds of different places. The
quote is introduced and concluded in verse 15. That’s the entirety
of the quote by John the Baptist. The rest of the section verses
16 through 18 are all the words of the Apostle John. Now most
translations provide you, like I just said, a little bit of
a help by way of punctuation, namely quotation marks. But remember,
quotation marks weren’t part of the original text. So if your
quotation marks are there and they’re in the wrong place, don’t
panic. Don’t think that you’ve got a faulty version of the Bible. The NAS, the ESV, the NIV, even
the New King James all put the statement at the end of verse
15 as attributed to John the Baptist and they put it in quotes.
The bottom line in all of this is that is the extent of John
the Baptist’s words in this section. Now because of the variety of
Bible translations in use among us, the other thing that we need
to do is clarify the structure of the passage. And that’s important
too. It’s a big question, and it’s
an important one for us to just look at briefly before we charge
ahead. There were suggestions that verses
16 and 17, and if you glance down at them, They explain verse
14 directly and they make verse 15 a parenthesis. It’s parenthetical. It was explained in this way.
At first sight, this verse seems to be an irrelevant interpolation
thrust in between the fullness passages of verses 14 and verse
16. That’s a prevailing attitude
among a number of commentators. That verse 15 is just kind of,
it’s out of place. It’s parenthetical. It’s inserted
in there and really for no seemingly good purpose. Another one explained
it this way. The verse, verse 15, is parenthetical,
interpolating at this point the Baptist’s witness to the pre-existence
of Christ, which has been implied in verse 14. And there was part of me that
just wanted to brush this aside and not really deal with it.
There’s only one problem. I looked at the ESV and the ESV
has it in parentheses. Now the definition of something
that is parenthetical is something that is incidental. It’s a digression. It departs from the theme of
a discussion. It’s an interlude or an interval.
In other words, it’s kind of out of place, maybe under the
breath. And so if you would acknowledge
me, or indulge me rather, this opportunity,
let me read these first few verses as if verse 15 was just a parenthetical
thought. And I’ll pick up in verse 14.
Regardless of what translation you’re reading, just read along
with me. 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. John testified about
Him and cried out, saying, This was He of whom I said, He who
comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before
me. For of his fullness we have all received in grace upon grace. That’s essentially what you’re
saying when you put verse 15 in a parenthesis. You’re saying
that it’s not even a sub-point. It’s kind of like an intrusion
into the text. But it’s not so. Verse 15 is
not a departure from what the apostle is discussing. It’s proof
In short, it’s not a parenthetical idea. The Apostle John says essentially
that what he himself expresses in verse 14, John the Baptist
echoed during his ministry on earth. Glance if you would at
verse 14 again. And allow me to reread these
verses as if verse 15 is equally as important as verse 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. John the Baptist testified about
Him and cried out, saying, This is He of whom I said, He who
comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before
me. And why does John Why does John
the Baptist give such a lofty testimony of Christ? The Apostle
John returns to the same thought that he had in verse 14, and
he ties it all together. It’s masterful. For of His fullness, verse 16,
we have all received in grace upon grace, for the law was given
through Moses, grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. The structure is important. And
verse 15 begins point five, that Jesus Christ, the light, was
preeminent. Look again, if you would, at
verse 15, when the apostle initiates this point, he simply refers
to John. We’ve already identified, remember,
that the apostle John never refers to himself by name in this entire
gospel. When he points to John here plainly,
he’s pointing to John the Baptist. He introduced us to him briefly
back in verses six through eight, remember? Glanced down at your
Bibles, there was a man sent from God whose name was John.
He’s not talking about himself, and we’ve already identified
that. He came as a witness to testify about the light. And
essentially what we have here in verse 15 is the testimony.
In verses six through eight he tells us that, look, John the
Baptist came and he’s going to bring a testimony, and here we
have it. Now, just as is consistent with
his style, and John the Apostle will do this again and again,
he’ll introduce us to an idea, he’ll go off on a different train,
and then he’ll come right back with that idea. He reintroduced
us, pardon me, he reintroduces us here to John the Baptist by
this brief but very fitting testimony. The apostle has just told us
what we considered our point number four, the light and his
glory. The apostle has told us that
the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we saw his glory.
Glory is of the only begotten from the father, full of grace
and truth. And his point here in verse 15
is that the Baptist testimony was precisely the same. That
there was no one like the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle John
said that he’s the only begotten. John the Baptist said that there’s
no one like Christ. This is He of whom I said, He
who comes after me has a higher rank than I. This is Him. We did behold the glory of Christ
when He took on flesh and dwelt among us. The Apostle would say,
and the glory was utterly unique, never before witnessed, the only
begotten from the Father, lacking in nothing, full of grace and
truth. And John the Baptist testified to the same exact thing. Jesus
Christ was preeminent. He was above all, unlike any
who had ever come before him, and like no one who had ever
come after. Look at the passage, John the
Baptist. It says here, testified about him. That was the very
purpose for which John came, as we’ve already pointed out.
Verses six through eight. Came a man sent from God. It’s
as if God is the lawyer calling the witness. Sent from God whose
name was John, he came as a witness to testify about the light. And it was with a purpose so
that all might believe through him. This was not just empty
words. And now we’re allowed to hear what this testimony is. Second century church father,
Origen, was the first to point out, and it’s been an amazing
study over the years, and how many seized upon this model or
this outline, if you will, of John chapter one. What Origen
noticed is that there are a series of six testimonies in this chapter. Not only this one before us,
verse 15, but John 1.23, glance down if you would. Again, John
the Baptist, he said, I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness,
make straight the way of the Lord, as Isaiah the prophet said. Verse 26, another testimony,
I answered them saying, I baptize in water, but among you stands
one whom you do not know. It is he who comes after me,
the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie. I’m not gonna go through all
of them because we’re gonna get to all of them, but John 1 29
is the next, John 1 32 and 34, and John 1 36 is the last one. But here we look at John the
Baptist’s initial testimony. John cried out, he testified,
and this word cried out, it is as if he heralded. This is almost
a style thing, and the last couple of weeks we spent no little time
talking about preaching style, and not all styles are the same. But if you read John the Baptist,
you get a pretty consistent view of his style. This guy was bold,
he was probably loud, he was declarative, he was a herald
of the gospel. One said that this word points
to almost an inarticulate utterance as distinguished from words.
He was just belting out the gospel. Isaiah 40 is quoted in Mark 1.3,
Luke 3.4, John 1.23, which we just quoted. It’s a voice crying
in the wilderness. And you just picture John the
Baptist at times out there on some little berm, some small
hill, belting out the testimony, running as a herald before the
Lord Jesus Christ while people just passed him by. So indifferent
to the truth that he was bearing. It was a loud, clear voice of
a herald of the gospel, the herald of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
in that he boldly proclaimed the Lord to all who would hear
it. What did he preach? What did he herald? What did
he cry out? Look at the passage. This is his sermon text for that
one message. He needed one verse, one line. He who comes after me has a higher
rank than I, for he existed before me. And what he says in that
one simple sentence is that Jesus Christ is preeminent. He is first
and foremost above all. certainly more important than
John the Baptist, but that point has already been made. He said, look, I am not the light.
He was careful to point out that, look, I don’t wanna take any
credit here. Jesus Christ is preeminent, and
he says it again here with all clarity. John the Baptist states
this in a funny way. It’s a paradox, really. Look
at this. He says that even though I was
here first, we hear that all the time, don’t we, parents?
I was here first, I was born first, I was in the ministry
first. Even though I was here first,
I was born first, six months before Jesus, I was in the ministry
first, even so, Jesus Christ is before me. He’s above me in
every sense. He is preeminent. As one commentator
said, my successor is my predecessor. that in a very strange way, even
though he was behind me, he was above me at all times. And it’s an important thing to
observe because not only in this culture, but including and especially
the one into which John the Baptist and Jesus came. If you were born
first, you had big priority. The firstborn son had all the
priority. Age and priority, birthright,
chronology, those things meant something. They had priority
in that culture. Even among the extended family. And so for John the Baptist,
Jesus’ cousin, to say this, this would have been to the Jew astounding. What do you mean Jesus has priority
over you? Basically John the Baptist’s
testimony was that the real position that Jesus occupied was one of
preeminence, ultimate rank over him. John didn’t even measure
up. John didn’t even make it onto
the list. Now the apostle will be careful
to point out in this section that Jesus Christ is not only
preeminent, he’s preeminent in three important ways. First,
Jesus Christ is preeminent in his eternality. We’ve seen this
point already. But it’s a point that is important
enough that the Apostle John returns to it again and says,
look, Jesus Christ, just as he said in verse one in the beginning,
was. And here he says, he who comes
after me has a higher rank than I for he existed before me. Here
John the Baptist echoes the same thing. That when I came into
existence, Jesus Christ was already existing. Even though he was
physically born after I was. John will return to that point
in verse 30 of the same chapter, the reference ultimately is to
the pre-existence of the Lord Jesus Christ. John the Baptist
here points out, the very first point that he makes is that Jesus
Christ was preeminent because he existed before me. Now this
is Bible 101, okay? To recall that John the Baptist,
remember, was conceived first And obviously born first, before
Jesus, those are part of the precious birth accounts where
we spent so much time last fall in advance of the Christmas season.
But not only was John the Baptist born first in his public ministry,
but he entered into his public ministry before Jesus. And even
though John was born before Christ and acknowledges that He acknowledges
here that Jesus Christ was in existence before he was ever
even born. As one commentator put it, he
is my successor in time, but he is my predecessor in a previous
eternity. Jesus Christ was already existing. And so John the Baptist recognizes
first that Jesus is absolutely preeminent. He is quoted as saying
that he, Jesus, is first in regard to me. That’s literally what
he says. He’s first in regard to me. Compared to me, he is
preeminent. One commentator put it this way.
He was before me as no other can be. He was before me and
first of all, you know what, this truth had very practical
implications on John the Baptist’s ministry. In fact, anybody in
ministry would do well to remember that Jesus Christ is preeminent,
wouldn’t he? Wouldn’t it be good for everybody
to reconsider this? Not just those who were on the
TV, but certainly including them. Here’s how John was affected
by it. Even though he was first, and
even though he began, he graduated from seminary first, That’s how
we would put it in this day and age. But I was ordained way before
him. He recognized Jesus Christ’s
preeminence and he humbled himself accordingly. And again in verse
27, it is he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal
I am not worthy to untie. He is absolutely preeminent. I told you that what he points
to initially here is his eternality and that would be good enough
for any serving in the ministry. Certainly it was good enough
for John the Baptist because that’s the only point that John
the Baptist makes. But for the apostle John, he’s
going to drive this point home about Jesus Christ’s preeminence. And he does so with two additional
points. This is why I told you that the
structure of this passage is so crucial. So crucial when we
stand back and look at what the Apostle John is doing here. He’s
going to drive home this point of Jesus Christ’s pre-existence.
Look at verse 16. And take it in a running fashion
at it begin in verse 15 John testified about him and cried
out saying this is he of whom I said he who comes after me
has a higher rank than I for he existed before me for of his
fullness we have all received and grace upon grace you see
the Apostle John now adds his thoughts to those of John the
Baptist verses 16 through 18 are the Apostle John’s words
Indeed, John was preeminent. There’s no argument by the apostle
here. He did have supreme rank since
he existed eternally, and as further proof to that, he adds
that we have all received an overwhelming supply of God’s
grace. But it’s out of the overflow
of Christ’s fullness. What does this mean? What does
this mean, his fullness? If you back away and look at
the greater part of the New Testament, it’s an immediately recognizable
term in theology when you speak of fullness or Christ’s fullness. Because what it points to is
the fact that Jesus Christ had the totality, the completeness
of divine power and attributes in His being. He was fully God. John the Apostle says here that
Jesus Christ was completely full of God-ness. He had all of the
power. He had all of the character.
He had all of the deity. He was full of divine power.
Every grace that belonged to God, God the Father was completely
present in its fullness in the Lord Jesus Christ. J.C. Ryle said it this way, in a short
but powerful list. He said he is rich in mercy,
grace, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. John uses only this word here,
but Paul uses it frequently. John the Apostle in all of his
writings, the gospel, his epistles, the book of Revelation, he only
uses fullness to refer to Christ here. And so in a sense, we almost
have to go elsewhere. Turn over, if you would, just
briefly to the book of Colossians. Paul has it three times in the
book of Ephesians. And you could jot these down
if you wish, Ephesians 1.23, 3.19. But in Colossians, they’re shorter,
they’re power-packed, they’re accessible. They’re really more
germane to our discussion here than the passages in Ephesians. Look at verse 19 of Colossians
1. It was the Father’s good pleasure
for all the fullness to dwell in Him. In other words, everything
that was resident within God in His being, in His personality,
was fully resident in the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn’t get seconds. He didn’t have some of the attributes
of deity, he was fully God. Flip over one chapter to chapter
two, verse nine, where Paul reiterates, in him, all the fullness of deity
dwells in bodily form. Now it acknowledges the flesh.
It acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, and even though
he came in the flesh, he laid nothing aside, he sacrificed
nothing. As one faithful pastor said,
here Paul’s thought is evidently that the whole sum of the divine
attributes exist together in Christ and that each Christian
in virtue of his fellowship with him draws from that fullness
whatever he needs for the accomplishment for his own part of the great
life of the church. Did you hear that? Because we’re talking about Christ
And we’re talking about His preeminence and we’ve seen His preeminence
in the fact that He is eternal. And we’ve seen His preeminence
introduced to us in the sense that He has the fullness of the
Godhead in bodily form. But He goes on to say, what also
the passage says, of His fullness we have all received. That’s an astounding statement.
That’s an amazing statement. That we, if we have placed our
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have tapped in, or probably
better said, we have been tapped in to an endless, eternal, unmatched,
unending supply of infinite power. I had breakfast with a brother
this past week. who just was talking about his own prayer
life. Talking about praying for big things. And watching for
big things. And noting when those big things
happened. And noting his own understanding
of God enlarging and ever enlarging. And his God getting bigger before
his eyes. And him realizing how puny sometimes
our prayer requests are before God. the courage, the confidence
to ask for big and even bigger things. Because the grace of
God is there. It’s an amazing thing that all
of this is said in the context of what was ever in Christ, the
fullness of his deity is ultimately, to use a simple word, communicable.
It’s available to his children. To those who by faith are in
Christ, we were just included in the greatest resource in all
the history of mankind. None excepted. You think of all
the gold, all the power, all the military power, all the nuclear
power, whatever power you can attribute or you can conceive
of. By God’s grace, he just included
you in. a far greater source. Look at the passage of His fullness
we have all received. For those who have received Christ,
for those who are in Christ, Christ’s fullness, His spiritual
riches are ours and He is there. This is what it means when it
says to come before the throne of grace, to come and to ask
for whatever need we have to be met. It’s not just that we
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and then sit back and let God
just take care of us as He wills. But it’s this personal relationship
that we have with Him. It’s constantly going to Him
and pleading with Him and receiving divine help for whatever situation
we face. When it says of His fullness,
we have all received, what John the Apostle does here is back
away and say, look, this is the whole church. This is not just
the group of apostles here. It’s not just me. It’s not just
the first century Christians that came to Christ and received
in full. When he backs away, he says,
we, if you have put your faith in Christ, you’re part of this,
the larger fellowship of the entire church. When we came to
Christ, when we placed our faith in Him, there isn’t anything
that can come our way. Whatever spiritual crisis, whatever
need, whatever challenge we face, the floodgates were just opened.
It’s an absolutely astounding passage. Every believer, And we’re gonna
receive in different measure, and Jesus himself points out,
because so often our faith is too small. We’re gonna receive
in different measure, sometimes purely out of God’s sovereignty.
That we’ve prayed just as much as others, we’ve sought God’s
grace just as much as others, and some seem to be just swimming
in it. We seem to be, just a touch. Sometimes that’s God being God. But it’s there and it’s adequate. This fullness is for those who
are partakers through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as one
said in Jesus, there dwelt the totality of the wisdom and power
and love of God. Because of that, those things
are inexhaustible. It’s not like, well, if I give
this guy this much, I’ve got to give this guy just a little
bit and I’ve got to, I’ve got to, you know, I’ve got to portion
this out. I’ve got to ration this grace
that I have. It’s infinitely available. It’s
inexhaustible. There is no end to the riches
of God and his grace. John will go on to tell us about
life. in God. Rich life, new life, different
kind of life that is available in Him. Peace and joy and God’s
Word and the Holy Spirit. All of those things are communicated
to us. Glance if you would though at
verse 16 again. This is such an astounding point
and we should give pause as we look at it of His fullness the
fullness of the deity that was completely resident in the Lord
Jesus Christ. We have all received. And then
he says in grace upon grace. What can that mean? There were some who said that
this is just merely a reiteration in different words. But I think it goes beyond even
that. It certainly is God’s grace that we receive ultimately. But what this points to is just
this continuing, it’s just like the ocean. It continues to roll
in wave after wave after wave. And you come to Christ, you didn’t
even know how it happened. I’ve talked to some people before
where they woke up and they just realized that they had become
a Christian. They prayed. They certainly,
you know, heard the gospel, but they don’t know how it happened.
It was by grace. We realize that it’s God’s grace,
and we get out of bed that day, and we begin to read, and we
begin to feast on who Christ is in the New Testament, and
that, too, is another wave of grace, and we begin to grow.
and things that were part of our life and habits and despicable
things and things that we don’t even dare name soon begin to
fall by the wayside and that is God’s grace, another wave
comes. And then we begin to meet Christian, Christian friends
and we walk with them and we pray with them and that is a
grace, another wave. And then we see prayer answered
and we begin to grow in our faith. And we plead, we pray for big
things, great things, and God answers that, and that’s God’s
grace, another wave. And then out of all astounding
things, God asks us to serve Him. He asks us to buckle down,
roll up our sleeves, and get to work for the sake of the kingdom,
and that too comes as another wave by God’s grace. The most
astounding thing of all, that God blesses it. God uses us. us in each other’s lives, whether
it’s by encouragement or by counsel, by sharing even our common experiences. And that, too, comes as another
wave of grace. And it’s absolutely unending. I never get tired of turning
to this passage, so neither should you, 2 Peter. Because 2 Peter echoes the same
exact thought, grace upon grace, wave after wave. 2 Peter 1, look at verse 5. Now for this very reason also,
applying all diligence, and we’re gonna need God’s grace to do
that, a wave. In your faith, supply moral excellence. And you can’t do that on your
own. You’re gonna need God’s grace. A wave. And in your moral
excellence, knowledge. You need another wave. And in
your knowledge, self-control. Yet another. And in your self-control,
perseverance. Again. And in your perseverance,
godliness. Again and again. And in your
godliness, brotherly kindness. And in your brotherly kindness,
love. It’s wave after wave after wave of grace. That’s the Christian
life. Every blessing, everything that
we need comes from God. Everything that we ever have
done in Christ, our conviction was by God’s grace, our repentance,
our faith in Him, our forgiveness, our salvation, our sanctification,
our comfort, our encouragement, our strengthening. Everything
is by God’s grace in Christ. When you stand back and look
at it, when you think of our relationship to Christ, everything
comes, it’s wave after wave after wave. Listen to just a few more. Confidence, we need confidence. Confidence comes through Christ,
2 Corinthians 3, 4. Victory. Don’t you just sometimes need
victory? That’s essentially what gives us confidence. Romans 8.37,
by all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him. Grace comes
from relationship with Christ. Our very existence comes through
relationship with Christ. Sanctification, redemption, resurrection. 1 Thessalonians 4. Everything comes. No wonder the
Apostle John says it so simply here, grace upon grace. There’s a third point. Told you that the Apostle John
points out here that Jesus Christ is preeminent in three important
ways. Not only is Jesus Christ preeminent
in his eternality, He is preeminent in his deity. Point three, he
is preeminent in his redemption. You see, the world had heard
of redemption. They knew of redemption of sorts,
but it was redemption with a small R in fading ink. It was for a
time. It was brief. It was temporary.
It didn’t solve the real problem of the human heart. Look at verse
17, it was the law. Verse 17 says, for the law was
given through Moses, grace and truth were realized through Jesus
Christ. Now look, when it says that the
law was given through Moses, it didn’t mean that Moses sat
down on his own and came up with it. Just means that he was the mediator,
he was the agent, if you will. He was the mouthpiece for God
to communicate this to his people. The law was given through Moses. What he points to here is the
fullness that is in Christ that is contrasted with this fleeting,
feeble thing given through Moses. It was a law, it was the expression
of God’s will and desire, but people had no ability to live
it. This mosaic law, it points to,
is the entire Old Testament economy, and it’s contrasted with this
new standing in Christ, this new revelation. Hebrews talks
about it. Listen to this, we don’t have
time to turn, Hebrews 3. Jot down verses 1 through 6,
Hebrews 3, 1 through 6. Therefore, holy brethren, partakers
of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest
of our confession. He was faithful to him who appointed
him, God, as Moses also was in all his house. Moses did what
God asked him to do, for he has been counted worthy of more glory
than Moses by just so much as the builder of the house has
more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone,
but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful
in all his house as a servant. For a testimony of those things
were to be spoken later, but Christ was faithful as a Son
over His house, whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence
and the boast of our hope is firm until the end. The law would threaten, but it
wouldn’t comfort. It would threaten judgment, but
it wouldn’t do anything to help us. It would lay a huge burden on
us, but it would do nothing to lift it. One commentator said it made
great demands, but gave nothing. A true revelation of God’s will
and so far was good, but it brought men no ability to become more
like God. You could do all that you wanted. in your efforts, but you could
never live up to the law of God. A.W. Pink said it very well when
he said, did the law tell out the grace of God? No, indeed. The law was holy, and the commandment,
holy, just, and good. It demanded obedience. It required
the strictest doing, and in continuance of all things written in it.
You know what he says there? In that economy, you couldn’t
just have a good religious day. Because if you had a bad day
the next day and snapped at your wife, you just blew it. It required the strictest doing
and continuance of all things written in it. It made known
the heinousness of sin. It condemned the sinner, but
did not fully reveal God. It exhibited his righteousness,
hatred of sin, his holy determination to punish it. It exposed the
guilt and corruption of the sinner, but it left him to his doom. That’s why I’ve often said the
most gracious, merciful thing that Jesus ever did to that rich,
rather to that lawyer who came to him and said, what must I
do to gain eternal life? Remember the context of the parable
of the Good Samaritan? What must I do to gain eternal
life? And what does he recite? The
Shema. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
soul, mind, and strength. Go love your neighbor as yourself.
Oh, that’s it? What he should have done is fallen
on his face and declared, I can’t do it. It’s too much. It’s impossible. It was a merciful plea by the
Lord Jesus Christ. To acknowledge what the law had
said for centuries. That we’re completely and utterly
unable. It’s exactly what the apostles
acknowledged in the book of Acts. In Acts chapter 13. Therefore let it be known to
you brethren that through him through the Lord Jesus Christ
forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you and through him everyone
who believes is freed from all things from which you could not
be freed through the law of Moses the law never saved anyone not
one and it isn’t because the law wasn’t good enough it’s because
Men and their sinfulness couldn’t live up to that standard. Look
at verse 17 again. For the law was given through
Moses, grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. This is
a completely different plan of redemption. This is a completely
new element to the great plan of God’s redemption. We see sin
now for what it is, but now we know grace and we know truth. We know the reality of it. And
for the first time in this opening section, we are introduced by
name to the Lord Jesus Christ. John hasn’t called him that so
far. He’s called him the word, he’s referred to him in vague
references so far. He called him the light, but
now he calls him Jesus Christ. And he points, he points not
only to his role as Messiah, but he points as his role of
the God man Jesus who had come to save sinners. And he introduces
us first and foremost to grace, that unmerited favor of God that
no man deserves. But that when we are in Christ,
we so freely and abundantly received. So overwhelmingly we receive
God’s grace. We didn’t deserve it. We could
never have laid claim to it. We could never have forced God’s
hand to open his hand to render us grace in any measure. Yet we place our faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ and it becomes an absolute torrent of grace that overwhelms the sinner. and
saves the sinner and equips the sinner and fits the sinner for
heaven. Not only that, but truth. There
were things that for centuries had existed in shadows, things
that didn’t make sense. This so-called plan of redemption. What do you mean do this and
you will live? They didn’t grasp it. And now it says that this gospel
has come, this good news about Jesus Christ. The disgrace to
the center. Because it’s completely unmerited,
undeserved. And it’s true to the center,
because now it presents a reality, whereas before there were just
shadows. Now we see God’s plan of redemption in full. The law was given through Moses.
The grace and truth were realized and realized in full through
Jesus Christ. Let’s humble ourselves before Him. Our merciful God, We humble ourselves
before Almighty God, and we do see you as absolutely preeminent. Lord, that was the Apostle John’s
entire point, that he wanted to open sinners’ dull eyes to
the absolutely astounding nature of the Lord Jesus. That it wasn’t
just the fact that he existed in eternity past because he had
already made that point even in the opening verse. But he
wanted us to see that the Lord Jesus Christ was also fully God
and that too he had already said. But John begins, thankfully God, to open our eyes
to the ultimate purpose of this entire gospel. To open our eyes
to God’s great plan of redemption. That was made complete in the
Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord Jesus Christ came
down and took on human flesh, lived his life. Suffered and
died on the cross. For our sin. God’s plan of redemption
was further advanced. And the only thing that yet remains in that great plan of redemption
is the salvation of sinners. It’s the whole point. God wants us to see how great
Christ is, how preeminent He is. not only that He’s eternal,
not only that He’s God, but that He came to save sinners. There is even one sinner here
who does not know for certain that they have been forgiven
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ because of their faith
in Him. God draw them, move them, Humble
them and bring them to salvation. We plead with you in Christ’s
name. Amen.