Light in the World – pt. 6

We put a great value on what
we know, don’t we? Put a high value in this society
on academics, on degrees. We like to think of ourselves.
We like to be well-read. We like to be in the know. We
count such people to be admirable. We find ourselves in the midst
of the information era, what is known as the information era,
where there is so much information, factual data, history available
at our fingertips by way of the internet, more so than any other
time in world history. And so it’s fascinating that
there’s an old and familiar saying, that still is held forth. It’s
not what you know, but who you know. From what I could gather,
that little quip is about 100 years old. But the thought behind
it is almost timeless, isn’t it? There’s a degree of cynicism
in there, isn’t there? If not fatalism. It seems to say or imply that
no matter how much you’ve applied yourself to learning, no matter
how much you know, at the end of the day, the thing that matters
most is the connections that you have, who you know, not what
you know. Networking. is held to outweigh
experience, knowing the right persons in the right positions
with the right means is better even than knowledge itself. What
a cynical view. It’s not what you know, it’s
who you know. But if that concluding sentiment
is of the business world leads to this cynical conclusion, Christianity
must arrive at the same conclusion, but not out of a hopeless cynicism,
but from a sure confidence of the Savior that is presented
to us in the pages of Scripture. In that sense, what we know leads
to who we know, doesn’t it? With regard to God, knowledge
is exclusive. Knowing God and knowing Him fully
is impossible. God in His deity can’t be figured
out as if He were a science. He must reveal Himself and that
knowledge leads to truths and those truths lead to the knowledge
of a person, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s not what
you know, it’s who you know. It’s never more true than with
regard to the contents of the passage to which we come this
morning, the knowledge of God by way of the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. If you would, we pick up again
in verse 9 in this third major section of the introduction. 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, 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. And so we’re brought, in a sense,
to the end of the beginning. It’s the culmination of the introductory
part of John’s Gospel. Those first 18 verses, which
upon studying them, we broke up into three general sections.
The first section was heralding the Word, telling us all about
the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, described as such in those first
five verses. And then we saw the witness,
God’s witness, the ministry of John the Baptist in verses six
through eight, that it was a divine commission with an evangelical
mission and a clarifying distinction that John was not the light. But that opens up into that final
section, didn’t it? That final section all about
the light. and the light is in the world
the light the Lord Jesus Christ has come into the world and that’s
what we’ve been doing is contemplating that light. We saw the light
and his effect in verse 9 that it enlightens every man the light
in his general rejection not everyone but generally speaking
Christ was rejected verse 10 We saw the light in His particular
reception in verses 11 through 12 that there were those who
did receive Him, not just the Gentiles, but largely so. There
was the light in His glory. The light came into the world
and shone brightly when the word, the Lord Jesus Christ, came and
took on flesh. John could only conclude that
we saw His glory. Glory is of the only begotten
from the Father, full of grace and truth. Last Lord’s Day, we
saw the Lord and His preeminence. There is no one higher, there
is no one more important, not just to John the Baptist, But
there is no one that possesses the fullness of God in human
form. There is no one that is able
to bestow out of the riches of His storehouses grace upon grace. Jesus Christ is absolutely preeminent. But we come to the end of the
beginning, to verse 18. This one verse is in a sense
the summary of the previous 17 verses. In this section we’ve
been introduced to the Logos, the Word, who we ultimately learned
was God incarnate. He came as God’s visible representation,
the very living, breathing revelation of God Himself. And who better
than God’s own and only begotten Son In this verse we are presented
again with a summary of this introduction with some of the
language being unfamiliar or even new to us. We’re not surprised
to find recurring themes presented here. As one writer so creatively
detailed, listen to this. In this prologue we notice what
may be called a spiral movement. And what he pictures, what he’ll
go on to present before us, is a rope, if you will, of three
strands dangling before us. And in that rope, if you look
upon it, you’ll see that it spirals. And it’s not just one strand,
but three woven together in a spiral fashion. He continues. An idea
comes to the front like the strand of a rope, retires again and
then reappears later on for development and further definition. And we’ve
said it in similar ways where John will bring up ideas and
this is a very typical of the Hebrew style where he would bring
up an idea and touch upon it and put it aside and then bring
it up and deal with it more fully later. That’s what he’s pointing
to with this idea of a spiral rope. He goes on. Meanwhile,
another idea, like another strand, comes before us and retires only
to reappear in like manner. And then he takes us to a number
of these examples. Just glance down at chapter 1,
if you would. The logos is presented to us
in verse 1. It’s withdrawn and then again
represented to us in verse 14. glance down if you would at verse
3. The creation passes next before us in verse 3 to reappear in
verse 10. The light, he says, appears in
verse 4, withdraws and returns in verses 8 and 9. The rejection
of the logos is introduced first in verse 5 and then reproduced
in verses 10 and 11. Lastly, The testimony of John is mentioned
in verses 6 and 7, repeated in verse 15, and taken up again
in verse 19 and developed through the next two sections of scripture.
And so you have these ideas and a fading of those ideas, a reintroduction
of those ideas over and over again. And so John comes back
around to verse 18 with a bit of a summary. The structure of
this verse and therefore of this sermon is very simple. It’s basically
two statements. A negative slash positive. The single sentence in verse
18 takes kind of a not this but that sense. Very much like the
Proverbs do. Glance at it briefly. No one
has, he has. No one has seen God at any time,
He has explained Him. Like I said, it’s very simple.
And so, the depth of the passage comes largely from what appears
to be, at first glance, subordinate or filler material. I say this
all the time, that when we say that something is subordinate,
we don’t mean that it’s less important, If you’ve diagrammed
the passage and you see a thought or a phrase or a clause that
is subordinate to the rest, it’s not less important. It’s all
God’s Word. And we see a powerful example
of that here. This is what would be subordinate
to those main sentences in this passage. The only begotten God who is
in the bosom of the Father. Those are the subordinate thoughts.
But I want to go back and look first at these main sentences. Let’s go back and look at verse
18, at the very first line. No one has seen God at any time. Now if you know your Bible, you
may be grimacing a bit at that statement. Because you’re almost
certain that you could produce some examples where somebody
saw God on some occasion. What about Moses? Well, not even Moses saw and
beheld God face-to-face. Moses didn’t take Him in completely. Turn, if you would, to Exodus
chapter 24. Exodus chapter 24, what a great passage. powerful passage. And a passage
that will set forth this idea of what God has revealed about
Himself. Chapter 24, look at verse 1,
Then He said to Moses, Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab,
Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel, and you shall worship
at a distance. Well that’s not exactly a face-to-face
meeting. Moses alone however shall come
up near the Lord but they shall not come near nor shall the people
come up with him. Then Moses came up and recounted
to the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances
and the people answered with one voice and said all the words
which the Lord has spoken we will do. That sounds a lot like
us doesn’t it? Moses wrote down all the words
of the Lord Then he arose early in the morning and built an altar
at the foot of the mountain with 12 pillars for the 12 tribes
of Israel. He sent young men of the sons
of Israel and they offered to burn offerings and sacrificed
young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord. Moses took half
of the blood and put it in basins and the other half of the blood
he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the book of the
covenant and read it in the hearing of the people and they said,
all that the Lord has spoken we will do, we will be obedient. So Moses took the blood and sprinkled
it on the people and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which
the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.
Then Moses went up with Aaron and Nadab and Abihu and seventy
of the elders of Israel and they saw the God of Israel. What we can obviously conclude
from that because Scripture squares with Scripture is what they saw
there on that occasion was a theophany, a bright glorious light of some
form and shape. They saw the God of Israel and
under his feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire
as clear as the sky itself. That’s the best they could do
to even begin to describe it. Yet he did not stretch out his
hands against the nobles of the sons of Israel, and they saw
God, and they ate and drank. Now the Lord said to Moses, Come
up to me in the mountain and remain there, and I will give
you the stone tablets with the law and the commandment which
I have written for their instruction. So Moses arose with Joshua his
servant, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. But to the
elders he said, Wait here for us until we return to you and
behold Aaron and her are here with you whoever has a legal
matter let him approach them then Moses went up on the mountain
and the cloud covered the mountain and the glory of the Lord rested
on Mount Sinai and the cloud covered it for six days and on
the seventh day he called to Moses in the midst of the cloud to the eyes of the sons of Israel
The appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming
fire on the mountaintop. Moses entered the midst of the
cloud. He went up to the mountain, and
Moses was on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights. So Moses
goes up into the midst of this glory cloud, this image of God,
this theophany, later in recounting In Exodus chapter 33, Moses said,
I pray you God, show me your glory. God said, I myself will
make all my goodness pass before you. I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. I will show compassion on whom
I show compassion. But he said, you cannot see my
face for no man can see me and live. Whatever the nation of
Israel saw, whatever the seventy elders saw, whatever Moses and
his companions saw, whatever Moses saw was not the face of
God. It was not a face-to-face meeting
as it were with God. In Deuteronomy, a recounting
of this, verse 10, chapter 4 verse 10, Remember the day you stood
before the Lord your God at Horeb? when the Lord said to me, assemble
the people to me that I may let them hear my words that they
may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth.
You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain and the
mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens,
darkness, cloud, and thick gloom. Then the Lord spoke to you from
the midst of the fire. You heard the words, but you
saw no form, only a voice. It goes on to detail the giving
of the law. There were other such theophanies. We looked at these several weeks
ago. Isaiah comes to mind. And so when it says that no one
has seen God at any time, we begin to grasp that God has
presented himself in some form on various occasions. But this
statement must have a more complete meaning. The Jews held that the
bodily eye and seeing God with the physical eye was a it was
a fundamental principle of Judaism that that was impossible. This
verb is an interesting one. There are a number of different
words that speak of seeing. This word really emphasizes it’s
the taking in, it’s the assimilating of all the factual data. In other
words, it refers to seeing God, if we could see Him and behold
all that He is just by visual representation, which we know
to be impossible. It’s impossible to know God perfectly
and fully, and that’s what’s being referenced here. These words, as one said, hold
good of every attempt to bridge from the human standpoint the
gulf between man and God. Systems which have resulted from
attempts of the finite to grasp the infinite are but as the vision
of a dream or the wild fancy of a wandering mind. In other
words, he says it’s impossible to fully frame, especially from
a visual representation, what God in His completeness is like. It’s impossible to know. It’s
impossible to know God as God fully. It’s impossible to have
a full and complete knowledge and understanding of God. The only way that we begin to
grasp and understand God is through the Lord Jesus Christ, the one
he has provided. This is where John wants to take
us. He wants to prove to us and show to us once and for all that
God has provided that window into the deity. I love the precision of the scriptures.
No one has seen God at any time. The word is a simple one, but
it just means ever. Ever yet. And it points to the
hopefulness of one day his children beginning to grasp the fullness
of God. To see God as He is. These representations
of God to the Old Testament saints were always very incomplete,
fleeting, brief, a form. They were partial. You see even stammerings to even
begin to describe what was seen. But the seeing here that John
is referencing is seeing the divine essence, beholding God
in His completeness. And essentially what he says
is no one has ever fully grasped the understanding of God. Solid commentator said this,
the true knowledge of God is not the result of philosophical
investigation, not like we can sit down and figure him out in
an afternoon or a week or a month or a hundred years. Our reason
can seize only some isolated rays of the divine revelation
and shed abroad in nature and in conscience. It does not succeed
in making them a whole because it cannot ascend to the living
focus from which they emanate. In other words, we can go out,
we can look at nature, we can look at a sunrise, we can look
at the mountains, we can see God’s handiwork, and we can begin
to draw some conclusions, but we can’t put together a complete
anthology of who God is just from what we observe. He concludes. The theocratic revelations themselves,
which were granted to the saints of the old covenant, contained
only an approximate manifestation of the divine being. What a great
way to put it. It was, you know, it was a hint. It was a glimpse
at who God is. In other words, it was the king,
as Paul would say, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God. we can’t
really grasp God with our eyes we can’t really figure him out
and that’s what the writer of Hebrews acknowledges of Moses
how faithful he was by faith he left Egypt not fearing the
wrath of the king for he endured as seeing him who is unseen it’s
not through the eyes we’ve seen plenty of God’s handiwork and
we’ve seen signs of God. We’ve seen theophanies in scripture. We’ve seen God’s work in this
world. But it’s absolutely true that
no one has seen God. No one has grasped His essence. No one has fully comprehended
and known Him. Glance down if you would at the
second statement in verse 18. The second statement comes at
the very end. No one has seen God at any time. He has explained
Him. And I love the way John does
this. A very regular feature of John’s
writing is he literally says, and he doesn’t mean this in any
way irreverently, but he says that one. That very one and no
other has explained God. It’s a linguistic device that
John uses frequently. This is the one, that’s the one. Very strongly, in fact. It’s as if John says, this one
and he alone, there’s no other. He has explained him. Now for
those of you who hearken back to our days of the Institute,
and it’s not dead, it’s just on hold, we had a class called
Diligent Bible Study. Remember we talked about Bible
study and I told you essentially what we were going to do was
exegesis and everybody’s eyes got big. Oh, I’ve never done
that before. They were quite afraid. Weren’t
a lot of people afraid of the idea of exegesis? Sounds like such a deep word.
That’s a seminary word. You’ve got to go to seminary
to do exegesis. Or do you? It just means to delve
into a matter and interpret it and explain it. What we concluded
through our studies there is that exegesis shouldn’t be entered
into lightly after all the class was called diligent Bible study
remember there should be some diligence applied there is a
science to it it’s not rocket science but there should be some
faithfulness applied to the scriptures then there are some basic principles
which we should apply we should use great caution especially
if we discover something new and novel But that’s what we’re doing when
we do Bible study. We’re exegeting. We’re going
in, and we’re drawing out, and we’re studying, and we’re meditating
upon the scriptures, and we’re drawing conclusions, we’re interpreting,
and then we’re applying, and then if the Lord uses us, we’re
explaining it. It was used in that day and age
of interpreting oftentimes the divine will. You could interpret
dreams, or interpret circumstances, or you could even read, if you
would, the goings-on in the culture. Oftentimes it would be that it
would explain the very technical, formal study of the scriptures. It was used of interpreting or
explaining, especially to those who are unfamiliar with them,
sacred rites that were handed down. This is why we do this
particular practice. As one described it, it means
to relate in full, to interpret, to translate. That’s what you’re
doing when you begin to study the scriptures. You’re studying
not only for yourself, you’re studying for someone else. in
the future, perhaps your children, your wife, even yourself, you
want to exegete the scriptures carefully. Elsewhere in the Bible, though,
this word, this word is only used by Luke. It’s the only time
that John uses it. Luke, it takes a much more generic
sense Luke 24, 35, speaking of those who met Christ on the road
to Emmaus, it just says that they began to relate their experiences. They were exegeting their time
with the Lord on the road. In Acts 10, verse 8, they had
explained everything to them. Acts 15, 12, they were relating
what signs and wonders God had done. And so it takes this more
plain vanilla form with Luke. But for John here, when he uses
this word, listen to what he says. Jesus Christ is the one,
the very one who has exegeted He knows God fully and intimately
and perfectly, and He and He alone has explained Him. He has interpreted God to us. He has presented Him to us perfectly. Well, this squares certainly
with the testimony of John’s gospel. Jesus knew and revealed
His heavenly Father, John 6, 46. Not that anyone has seen the
Father. Well, that’s problematic if you’re
going to be an exegete, isn’t it? If you’re going to be an
exegete and you’ve never read the Bible, that’s a problem.
Well, Jesus says, you know what? I have the material. Not just
does He have a Bible, He has known the Father for eternity. Not that anyone has seen the
Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father. John 14 says the same thing essentially
I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father
but through me if you had known me you would have known the father
also from now on you know him and have seen him Philip said
to him Lord show us the father and it’s enough for us Jesus
said to him have I been so long with you and yet you have not
come to know me Philip he who has seen me has seen the father
how do you say show us the father Colossians 115 Paul says the
same thing. He is the image of the invisible
God. He is God’s provision to mankind
so that we would know what God is like as best we can in this
life. You know Hebrews chapter one
to be one of my favorite chapters. They’re all in a sense my favorite
but this is one of my favorite favorites. He is the radiance. of His, that is the Father’s
glory. He, that is Jesus Christ, is
the radiating, He is the emanating force of the Father’s glory. The exact representation of His
nature. If you want to know God, if you
want to know what God is like, if you want to really know who
He is, know Christ. To know Christ is to know the
Father. came and proclaimed the Father.
He exegeted the Father. He explained the Father. He interpreted
the Father. And not merely by what he taught,
but just by backing up and watching who he was, how he functioned,
by the way he carried himself in his personal life and career
and ministry. As one commentator said, Jesus
has initiated earth into the most profound secret of heaven. Isn’t that amazing? Jesus Christ
has initiated earth into the most profound secret of heaven. What is it? It’s a secret with
which the angels themselves did not yet comprehend completely. What he’s pointing to is God,
but can you imagine Angels beholding God from eternity past from their
moment of creation Don’t have God figured out completely yet
themselves In that now Jesus Christ is common has given to
us things that angels haven’t even yet grasped It’s amazing He goes on and says outside of
this revelation of the divine character. Every idea which man
forms of God is incomplete or imaginary. In a certain measure,
an idol. In other words, if your idea
of God doesn’t square with what was manifest by the Lord Jesus
Christ, you’re cultivating a false idea of God. You’re cultivating
an idol. That one has explained the Father. Which one? And that’s precisely
what makes this seemingly unimportant subordinate material so suddenly
important. Because it tells us about this
very one who explained, who exegeted, who interpreted the Father. Who
is He? Three things that John puts down. Who is it that explained? God
the Father. Look at verse 18 one more time.
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten. That one has
explained Him. You’ll remember a couple of weeks
ago we met up with this phrase back in verse 14, the only begotten. Verse 14, the word became flesh
and dwelt among us. We saw his glory, glory as of
the only begotten from the father. We saw there that this word which
is often translated by a phrase in English is used only occasionally
in the New Testament. What it points to outside of
the New Testament is pretty fascinating. It talks not so much about birth,
although that’s the core word there. Genesis talks about the
birth and can be attributed to that occasion. But it just talks
about the source, from where someone is derived. Oftentimes it would refer to
an only child in a family. But more often than not, it just
spoke of uniqueness or an uncommonality, someone who is incomparable in
their presence and being. And certainly that would be true
of an only child. And they would be unique in that
sense. but it also spoke because they
were an only child of a certain preciousness. That they were
all the more valuable because they were an only child. Luke
7.12 seems to have this. Jesus approached the gate of
the city. A dead man was being carried out. The only son of
his mother. I mean, doesn’t that grip your
heart? This is a sad situation, this is sad. And it points to
the preciousness of that son. It points to the despair that
this woman must have felt. Luke 8, 42. He had an only daughter
about 12 years old and she was dying. Doesn’t just that right
there, doesn’t that grip you? Not only is it his only born
daughter, But it speaks of her uniqueness and it speaks of her
preciousness. Luke 9.38, again, a man from
the crowd saying, teacher, I beg you, look at my son, he is my
only boy. But scripture also uses this
word monogenes to speak of Jesus Christ. And yet we know from
a human standpoint, don’t we? In Joseph and Mary’s family,
he wasn’t an only child. So with reference to him, it
must have another nuance here. He was God’s only son, wasn’t
he? He was the only member of the
Godhead sent as deity to take on humanity, and to do so by
birth. The Apostle John uses it three
times to refer to Jesus Christ, not only here in this passage,
but also in John 3.16, John 3.18, John 3.16, you know, you could
hear it along as I read, for God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall
not perish but have eternal life. And it talks about that preciousness,
doesn’t it? It strikes us of that preciousness
that God gave all He had to give when He gave this precious Son.
John 3.18, two verses later, believes in Him is not judged.
He who does not believe in Him has been judged already because
he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. It speaks of that preciousness
and that value. But there’s another occasion
where this word is used, monogamous, where it would drive home the
point Listen, if you will, because it’s one single verse. You remember
the Hall of Faith, Hebrews chapter 11, right? Where the writer there
is going person by person, and he’s talking about their faithfulness
to God, and they’re taking God at His word. Great saints of
faith. And in verse 17 of that chapter,
he says, by faith, Abraham, that’s how they all start by faith Moses
by faith Rahab on this occasion by faith Abraham it zeroes us
in okay Abraham what specific instance of great faith does
the writer of Hebrews want to elicit here by faith Abraham
when he was tested offered up Isaac And he who had received
the promises was offering up his only begotten son. This will drive the point home
because we know from reading the scriptures Isaac wasn’t his
only son. But he was the only one that
could fulfill those promises. He was the only one that was
Abraham’s son by the promise by Sarah. And in that sense,
he was his only begotten son. So when this word is used in the New Testament,
not only does it point to someone who is beloved, but someone who
is utterly and completely unique. There was no other Isaac. There
were no other options. Abraham had to step out in great
faith. and offer His only Son. There’s a second element to the identity
of this One. This very One, the only One who
could explain the Father. Look at the passage. No one has
seen God at any time, the only begotten God. He, that very One, has explained
it. Now you might notice, if you’re
familiar with more than one translation, maybe you’ve switched over the
years, or maybe you’re looking over someone’s shoulder at their
very different translation. And that’s about the only way
that you would catch this in English, is if you’re reading
two different translations, or you’re very familiar with those
translations, You see, the King James originally translated this
as the only begotten son, which makes perfect sense. Later translations,
including the big three, New American, ESV, NIV, all translated
as the only begotten God. And that’s quite a difference,
isn’t it? It’s a textual issue. And it essentially involves two
letters that somehow either were messed up, smudged, and then
copyists went along and corrected them, or they came along and
they said, this can’t possibly be referencing God here in this
passage. And so they changed it. They
changed it to read, the only begotten Son. It’s a much more complicated
situation than that, than just the King James translators doing
one thing and other translations doing another. What was behind
it was the Greek text itself and the subtle nuance there.
I don’t want to take away your confidence in God’s word. I want
to undergird it. And what we have here is a very
clear translation. The oldest, the best manuscripts
have it as the only begotten God. And that flies in the face
of what scribes would come upon when they read this. They would
say, well, we’ve got to fix this. Because it says in John 3.16,
the only begotten Son. And it says two verses later
in John 3.18, the only begotten Son of God. John 1, or 1 John
4, 9, the only begotten Son, we’ve got to make this square
with those other passages. And that’s what scribes began
to do. But the oldest manuscripts, the best manuscripts, the Greek
text itself, I would suggest, says that it’s the only begotten
God. And when it does, it drives home
the point that Jesus Christ is God. Who better to reveal God,
who better to explain Him, than God Himself in the flesh? There’s a third. There’s a third. factor here. When we begin to talk about who
is it that explains God the Father, who is that very one that John
seems to point to so obtusely? Look at John 18 one more time. Verse 18, No one has seen God
at any time, the only begotten, God who is in the bosom of the
Father, He, that very One has explained Him. Now perhaps I’m the only one,
but it was probably along about junior high where that word bosom
got hijacked, right? And it became used in circles
with boys to refer to that female part. And I’m telling you this
morning, that’s not what it’s talking about. It’s a metaphor
for depth of intimacy, a closeness. And oftentimes that’s pictured
by hugging someone close to the chest. But this phrase, It’s
admittedly unfamiliar. It’s even vague to us. We don’t
use this very often for obvious reasons. But the good news, the
NIV, the ESV, which translated as at the father’s side, that
doesn’t go near far enough from what this word means. God’s Word,
the translation, God’s Word, the message, the living Bible.
They even water it down even more when they say close to or
exists at or is near to the Father’s heart. What it’s talking about is one
who was eternally in the most deepest intimacy and closest
fellowship with God the Father. How can you say He’s just at
His side or near Him? What it talks is not only proximity
but a personal intimacy, a oneness with, an enjoyment of the Father
in His love. As one said, it is the emblem
of a complete opening of the heart, the most secret thoughts
of the Father in His most inmost will. It is literally into the bosom
of the Father. And this word is used throughout
the scriptures to describe some of the most intimate relationships
that exist. Deuteronomy 13. If your brother,
or your mother’s son, or your son or daughter, or the wife
you cherish, or your friend who is at your own soul, as your
own soul, entice you secretly saying, that’s that phrase, as
your own soul. It’s used of mother and child. Numbers 11, was it I who conceived
all these people? Was it I who brought them forth
that you should say this to me? Carry them in your bosom as a
nurse carries a nursing infant. Draw them near. Hold them close. It’s used in the New Testament
of Lazarus and Abraham, remember? In Hades, he lifted up his eyes
being in torment. He saw Abraham far away and Lazarus
in his bosom. Lazarus was literally one with
Abraham, close and clinging to him in deep fellowship. You know
where else it’s used? It’s used in the Last Supper.
John uses it of himself. Leaning back on Christ’s bosom. in intimate
fellowship with Him. When John says, no one, no one has seen God,
but that one has explained Him. And he goes on to tell us in
explicit detail who that is. He says it’s the only begotten
One. It’s the one, the unique one,
the precious one. It’s God. It’s God who has been throughout
history, throughout eternity, in the most intimate fellowship
with God himself. Who better? Who better to explain
God to us? As J.C. Ryle said, he is one
who is most intimately united from all eternity to God the
Father, equal to him in all things. He fully showed to man all that
man can bear concerning the Father. He has revealed his Father’s
wisdom and holiness and compassion and power and hatred of sin and
love of sinners in the fullest possible way. And now I would tell you, it’s
not what you know, it’s who you know. And it’s very possible in a cerebral
crowd like we have, in a very degreed city, we’re so well read,
we have so many, we have, we at least have the books, right? We have this tendency, what society
is there that makes a boast of how many books they own. It’s not what we know. It’s who
we know. And it’s very possible that in
this cerebral society, in this cerebral church, in this well-read
group of people, that there are some, there is possibly at least
one who is very well read, very intelligent, knows a lot of things,
and still yet doesn’t know the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you
bow as we examine our hearts? O merciful God, we have been entertained, challenged,
nourished, enlightened, by 18 of the most powerful verses in
all of Scripture. And when John comes full circle
here, to point us to the very one, the only one, who has explained
the Father, he takes us back to the very beginning. That this
is Jesus Christ. This is the one whom God has
provided. And if we will not hear Him,
we will hear no one. Father, if there is any, any
person here who has not even begun yet to entertain the knowledge
of Christ, we pray that you would bring them to repentance. If
there is anyone here who has for years muddled and played
and toyed with the things of God, thinking that they know, that
realizes in their heart this very morning they do not know
Christ. Our Lord God, we plead with you,
bring them to repentance. Repentance for their sin and
faith in Jesus Christ, the One who is explained, the only One
who is explained, God. It’s in Jesus Christ’s name that
we pray. Amen.