I invite you to turn to John's Gospel, chapter 1. None of you can see this. There's a spider here that is driving me nuts. I have to get it. I'm sorry. I'm used to doing that in my house all the time. John chapter 1. John chapter 1. And we're going to be considering this morning verses 14 through 18 of the prologue. 14 through 18 of the prologue. And we conclude that this morning, and we move into a new section next week. But again, such a glorious section of Scripture to consider, and so we'll focus on these wonderful words. We'll read it, verse 1. 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 was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John, and came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. he was in the world and the world was made through him yet the world did not know him he came to his own and his own people did not receive him but to all who did receive him who believe in his name he gave the right to become children of god 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 dwelled among us and we have seen his glory glory as of the only son from the father full of grace and truth john bore witness about him and cried out this was he of whom i said he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me for from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace the law was given through moses grace and truth came through jesus christ no one has ever seen God, the only God, who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known. And there ends this morning of the reading of God's Word. One of the things that we always like to tell people who are new to the faith or who are considering the Bible for the first time, how many times have we all said it, when they say, well, what should I begin to read? And we almost uniformly and commonly say you should read the gospel of john that's where you should you should start it's the simplest we say presentation of the gospel of jesus christ and i stand back from that and say well yes and no the gospel is very clear in john but it is it is a deep gospel it is a gospel that has a lot to say to us and it is packed in fact i think we've missed something in doing that at times because we're unable to see the Bible as a whole. If you ever, somebody ever was asked, well, I have a book, where should I start reading? You never say in the middle of the book. That would present a lot of challenges because the foundation has been laid up front, hasn't it? The Bible is the same way. The entire Old Testament is giving us truth and helping us understand with language the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is why it's so hard for people to read the Bible today because they're starting in all different places and they often don't know the authors of the New Testament specific intention and usage of various phrases and various words that are borrowed from the Old Testament to teach us something, to apply something. The Bible is one grand story, and as you know, for a long time, at least in the United States, people have divided up the Bible, and they've essentially said that the Old Testament is not even useful. They have said that the New Testament is the church age, and they've divided this up into dispensations, and they've really utterly ripped out the Old Testament's usefulness for the church today. That's why it's not preached in many camps. But Jesus told us last time, As we looked at, we started to look at, we'll see this. You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have life. But he said, they are those which testify about me. So he's telling us how to read the Bible. He's telling us when you read the Bible, you need to go to the Old Testament, and you need to understand that is about me. And we still fight against that. For some reason, for some odd reason, for some very strange reason, that's not very satisfying to us. I think it's the most glorious thing ever to read all these stories and see Jesus. John is doing that today. In the prologue, he's introducing us to one of the crucial themes and one of the things that John is going to do throughout this entire book, and he's using and borrowing the story of the Exodus to tell us about Jesus and how that story was about Him. You know the story of the Exodus from Egypt. How in the world does that story tell us about Jesus? That's the question, and John is helping us with that. And you'll notice here that his great aim and his great goal, as I've given you in the notes today, his great aim and goal is to teach us how Jesus brings us back into the presence. How Jesus gives us access. How Jesus solves what was the great problem the Old Testament presented, And that's what we're going to look at briefly this morning as we look at this wonderful section in the prologue. And there are certain common themes then that you'll notice that come out here that you can parallel and look at throughout the Exodus event and the Exodus story. The first being His presence among us. The second being His ministry to us. And then the third, His revelation for us. So you'll see this here, those themes of the presence, the ministry, and the revelation, which were huge themes throughout the Exodus. So this morning we're in this very fascinating, glorious, beautiful section of John, and we conclude this prologue, and I want to look carefully this morning, if you hopefully have your Bibles open, and you're looking at verse 14, notice how beautiful this statement is when it says, 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. I really should have slowed down in this prologue and preached just that verse this morning and probably slowed down and preached certain words. But we would be here four years, and you wouldn't like that, and the church would empty if I did that. I want you to think about this for a minute. It's a beautiful verse. In verse 1 of the prologue, we were introduced to the Word. He was in the beginning, before the face of God. He was God. The Word was in the beginning. Now we're introduced clearly to His person, who we're looking at as He used Word, as the Jews understood certain things about Word as the Greeks understood certain things about word. Now he is introducing us clearly to exactly who he is talking about. And he says very clearly here, we all know who he's talking about. He's going to say it so plainly, the word became flesh. Marvelous. He was God. Truly divine. Truly human. He became one of us. He added to that divine nature a human nature in the incarnation, truly human. This glorious truth is captured here of the natures, the two natures you'll notice here of Jesus, but I want to come back to that, but I want you to think about what John is doing with this so beautifully this morning and helping us this morning to think about. the great issue after the fall was for humanity our expulsion from the presence of god from the garden remember the cherubim were set up boys and girls and we were booted out of the presence in adam and and we have been wandering ever since i remember that god sent man out of the garden and there was no more access there was no more access to god so the the sad story of our our human race. The whole sad story of everyone has been, we have been wandering all of these many, many, many years on the earth trying to find a way. Captured for you in the Babel event when they all got together and they said, this is ridiculous. We're miserable. We need to get back to glory. We need to get back to heaven. So we're going to build a tower that reaches up to the heavens and we will build ourselves a way back to god that was the message there god said no you won't i'm going to disperse that and this is this is this is this is our plight this is what's been going on this is what everyone to this day turning on the news is trying to solve a way to solve all of this misery all of this wandering all this emptiness all this hopelessness well this is what was pictured and and um the issue then uh of the exodus event all of this came into sharp focus for us as we looked at exodus uh you'll remember that the issue was how would the lord ever be with this sinful people israel whom he set apart in the earth as a special people to him how could he do it and the heart of the exodus there was a conversation between Moses and God that I think when you set that up next to John 1, you'll get it. Listen to what happened here as Moses was talking with the Lord and the issue came and the question came about how will the Lord's presence be with us? Listen to this, Exodus 33. My presence will go with you. Now the Lord had already said I won't go with you for if I go with you, I will consume you. my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. And he said to him, Moses, if your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us that we are distinct? I and your people from every other people on the face of the earth. And the Lord said to Moses, this very thing that you have spoken I will do. For you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name. Moses said, scary proposition by the way, please show me your glory. And he said, I will make my goodness to pass before you, and I will proclaim my name before you, the Lord, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But he said, you cannot see my face. Hold this thought for this sermon today. You cannot see my face. For man shall not see me and live. And the Lord said, behold, here's a place. Come over here. I'm going to pass by you and I'm going to put you in the cleft of the rock. And I will cover you with my hand until I've passed by. Then I will take away my hand and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen. So don't miss the big message coming out of Exodus. It was, the only way we're going to be brought home is if he will come to us, which should beg the question, why? Why does he need to come to us? Why can't we go back to him? But the problem was even then, if he comes to us, how will his glory not consume us? It's a scary proposition. how close can we get to God and live holiness where do I go through it Isaiah saw a glimpse of that glory when his train filled the temple and all he heard was the angels and the cherub and the seraphim saying holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts no man can see his glory and live so now what and isaiah ducks down and says i'm dead as a matter of fact you remember what he said in the middle of all that he said i am utterly breaking up in his presence i am being undone i'm being consumed the glory just a glimpse of it its radiation is destroying me so what did what did god do how did he make this possible well he gave moses something on the mountain remember what he gave moses a set of instructions to build something i want you to build a tabernacle i don't go through all i won't go through all the tabernacle i don't have time this morning we did that when we went through exodus but you remember all the pieces you had the outer court and then you had the holy place where there were certain pieces of furniture, table of showbread, candlestick, you remember, altar. And then there was the most holy place where the ark was, the law was deposited in the ark, and then the cherubim figures were all woven into the fabric, and there was a giant cherub there, and the mercy seat where once a year blood would be sprinkled. What had been constructed there was a mini throne room telling us God had come down to us. But big six-inch thick veil. No one could get there. This is really important for understanding this. At the end of Exodus, Exodus ends like this. When Moses finished the work, The cloud covered the tent of meeting, the tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud set on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle throughout all their journeys. Wherever the cloud was taken up, whenever it was from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, they did not set out till the day that it was taken up, for the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, and the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. Glory had set on it. Shekinah glory. Now what does this have to do? Why did I spend all this time talking about that? Look at verse 14 again. And the word became flesh. And here's the word. And He tabernacled among us. John is so deliberate in picking that word. He tabernacled among us. So what he just said was, right out of the gates in John, everything that the Old Testament was about, everything about the tabernacle and God's presence and glory that it was speaking of is fulfilled and was anticipating the arrival of jesus in human flesh you see when he became flesh that glory was concealed wasn't it this is why the um transfiguration was so important remember when they wanted to see the glory and and the lord took them off to the side three of them and they went up on the mountain and for a little bit he let that glory break out and show them what they could handle and remember what happened he transfigured the glory was coming out and they are ducking at that point it was an encouragement to them so that they could see for a moment who he is and peter will pick up on that in first peter and say we saw the glory we saw the glory well the tabernacle is jesus he's come to us hebrews says he's a tabernacle not made with hands now in the heavens for us jesus is god among us what is the point of this no one in the old testament could see god's glory and live understand that that's what Moses learned that's what Isaiah learned what is John saying here look carefully at this it's really remarkable isn't it and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory whoa you know how shocking a statement that is we see Him for who He is. We have seen Him. Now, not everyone looked at Jesus and said, there's the glory of God. In fact, He was rather disappointing to many people. They wanted the glory to be an outward glorious kingdom where He would come and throw down the Romans and He would display the power in the ways that they wanted Him to display power. Remember in John 6, they're going to try to come and make Him king and He wants nothing to do with it. The New Testament writers are saying to us something so wonderful. God said, 2 Corinthians 4, let light shine out of darkness. That light has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus. So, all the writers are saying when we looked upon the face of Jesus, we saw the glory. What a marvel. How were we brought back to God? Well, think of what you say in the Heidelberg. We don't study these things for no reason. We don't memorize them, boys and girls, for no reason. Now, it's kind of like finally putting it all together. And then it just starts snapping and you see the whole story. That's how it went for me. I didn't know how to read the Bible for years. And one day I was able to see the whole story come together and all these bits and pieces that I had had along the way, all of a sudden the light bulb went on. It's like the karate kid when he was painting. If you haven't seen this, I just... And finally he realized he could do all this stuff, right? I see it. Why must this mediator be truly God? so that the mediator, by the power of His divinity, might bear the weight of God's wrath in His humanity and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life. What a statement. Well, why must He be true and righteous man? Why did He take on our flesh, our human nature? He must be true man because God's justice requires that the same human nature which has sin should pay for its sin. He must be righteous man because one who is himself a sinner cannot pay for others. Here it all is. He brings us back. He is God among us. And this is the most wonderful news that John announces. In fact, I don't have this written down, but if you look toward toward the end of the chapter, chapter 1, if I can find it here. Look at verse 29. The next day, he saw Jesus coming toward him. John the Baptist said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. As he is gazing on Jesus, Jesus is passing by him. That glory is passing by him as it passed by Moses and John is saying, that's him. And he's come to take away the sin of the world. Wow. I mean, what a glorious section of Scripture to tell you that everything the Exodus was all about is being fulfilled. Now, I want you to notice specifically He has come to tabernacle among us. He has come to dwell among us. But what is His ministry to us? Well, John says, we've seen His glory, the glories of the only Son from the Father. Notice this. What is He full of? Grace and truth. verse 15 john bore witness about him and cried out this was he of whom i said he who comes after me ranks before me yeah he's eternal because he was before me and then comes this for from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace for the law was given through moses here notice the contrast again back to the exodus grace and truth came through jesus christ so john now capitalizes on what he is bringing to us in other words uh is jesus come to bring condemnation to his people no sure he's bringing condemnation for those who do not believe and we'll study that but the drive of the coming of the savior is this to give grace and truth his ministry to us is this john doesn't just say grace by the way i always like to notice this in in the in the prologue john says grace upon grace grace in addition to grace in other words uh it is endless flow of grace grace upon grace more grace and more grace and more grace is the what he is giving to us in the whole course of our lives from grace to grace we go grace upon grace upon grace is his disposition and gift to us there's an endless flow of grace to you is what he's saying endless an endless fountain is opened isaiah the law came through moses but grace and truth came through jesus doesn't mean grace and truth weren't moses that's not what he's saying what he's saying is this the ministry of moses in the administration of the law the law never had the power to free i don't know anyone misses that or disagrees with that the law always showed us the standard in the way it said do this and you'll live Jesus came and said grace I'll do it I'll do it his ministry came saying I have done for you there's no condemnation Romans 8 for those who are in Christ Jesus I am doing. Look to me. There's endless grace in me. I'm the mediator. Moses was not the mediator this way. I'm the mediator this way. Have you ever thought about how much you enjoy this? We just take this stuff for granted. I was thinking of Paul's thorn in the flesh. And Paul gets this thorn in the flesh in the course of his life. He had something physical happen to him that was distressing. and so he says i i went to the lord three times to pray about it i went to jesus and i said lord please take it away take it away and he specifically responded with an interesting thing didn't he my grace is sufficient for you for my powers made perfect in your weakness i'm gonna i'm gonna dump grace on you you may not get the answer you want but here's what i am going to give you through it grace upon grace grace upon grace i'm going to keep you and i'm going to uphold you and i'm not going to let you go grace to give you the strength every day that you need you know johanna this week it's i take a whole new look now and approach when i sit with somebody after my own father's death and i i sit with somebody and they've received a diagnosis that is terminal it's going to be over shortly now when you think you get that and you have this think about it if this is you and your time's over short think of your sister right now Johanna how she feels this is exactly what my father died from and I'll never forget and I shared this with Johanna you know his response to me was well Well, it looks like this is the end, the Lord, of the time he's given me. And I accept that. You weren't there when you were born. You didn't ask to be born the first time. You definitely didn't ask to be born the second time when he gave you life. And you have no control when you go out. You can run down the street as much as you want and put on your jogging shorts. You're not going to add to it. It's really hard to sit with someone who knows this. But it really wasn't. Because she was receiving grace. And her confidence in the Lord's promises and her confidence in the Lord's will and His plan gave her the joy and strength that she needs. There's an endless flow He gives to you. but it's not just this it's grace for salvation to save you from all your sins it's a grace that never stops flowing from him he never stops and says ah you've been really bad today I'm not giving it doesn't do it and then he ministers is constantly not only grace to you, but what else? Truth. That's the most comforting thing to hear in our world today, isn't it? Where is truth? What is truth? Everyone has their own version of it. You've come out of post-modernism, you realize that you used to say, you can have your truth, I'll have my truth, we'll all believe in truth, and you know what, just don't tell me that your truth is in disagreement with my truth and we'll all be good. They don't believe that anymore. They're saying you submit to our truth or else. That's not post-modernism. jesus is truth and guess what he's ministering to you constantly truth which he will tell you in john 8 this truth has the power to do what set you free you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free there's one deposit of truth that he is ministering to you and that's why you come to church by the way that's why you're here sometimes i get a little sad because I wonder, you know, I see people, I wonder, is this the value and priority of our life? Is it? Or do we just take this attitude to the church of, well, I've got to go up there again. We've just got to do it because we always do it. He is ministering to you the truth in this corrupt, dangerous evil age there's only one truth it's him and he's committed to it to teach you it so you be committed to it that's what a wonderful thing so that's what you've received from him today all the world gropes around trying to figure this out and every sunday you come up to the house of the lord and you are minister grace and truth from him endless flow endless that's one of the most exciting messages in our day there's one more encouragement here today and we'll stop his presence is with you he's tabernacling among us he's given us access in the face of jesus christ we see the glory his ministry to you is gracious and full of truth and his revelation to you is complete that is really important notice what verse 8 says no one has ever seen god the only god who is at the father's side he has made him known he's talking about the father what john is saying is we saw that glory in the face of jesus so we saw that glory we saw him for who he is he is the son of god which makes him equal with god No man could ever see God and live. The tabernacle sealed off that presence. So what's he saying to us? He is the radiance of the glory of God and the imprint, says Hebrews, exact imprint of his nature. So, without the Old Testament, no one could see God and live. And Moses is in the cleft of the rock. And think of what John is going to show you in chapter 14. Philip, Jesus, show us the Father and it'll be sufficient for us. Philip. We want to see God. We want unmediated access to God. We want to see unmediated God. His nature. Philip, Philip, Philip. Have I been with you so long? Think about this statement. I wish of us would ever say something like this. Have I been with you so long and you don't know me, Philip? I am in the Father and the Father in me. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. It's the only way you're getting the glory. It's the only access you get. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him. So Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father and it's enough. Have I been with you so long, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? When you look at me, Philip, you see all you need to see of God. When you know me, you know all you need to know of God. I'm the mediator. I give you a perfect knowledge. This was his prayer in John 17. His prayer for you is this. Remember what he said? This is eternal life. That they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. So think of what the prologue just said to you today. A lot. God has come among us. In the face of Jesus Christ, we have access. He is our tabernacle who came to dwell with us and now has gone ahead of us into glory, a perfect tabernacle not made with hands, reserved in heaven for us. He's already carved the way. He's opened up heaven. He's opened up the promised land to you. He's already gone ahead. It's done. And now He is mediating and giving to you in this ministry grace and truth and He gives you everything you need to know about God through His abiding presence by the power we're going to see of His Holy Spirit. We see the glory of God in the face of Jesus. He is how you're made right. He is how you're brought back. Now let me close with this today. A serious question, a question I have to wrestle with. How much does that matter to you? Really? in the busyness of life and all that you're doing, how much does it really matter? I somewhat felt sad writing this because I don't think it's so much in this church at all, but I think many Christians today yawn at truth like this. I think many Christians just want to be entertained to death. This would bore them and they would be worried about this. That breaks my heart. Thinking they need something more. Thinking they need some outward glorious experience. Think of the danger of ecstatic experience now. Think of the danger of pursuing glory outside of this now. That brings wrath. The wonderful truths that I ever imagined could ever be imagined have just been given. And I think the church is yawning at it today. I think the church is apathetic to it today. Worried about the length of sermons and worried about what better do you have to do with your time? Really. God has announced love to you. Do you yawn in the face of such a gift? why would we think judgment coming is not just on those who turn their faces away from such a face? But I got good news, He's got more grace for you. He's got grace upon grace for you. To all who believe and turn from their sins and look to Him and believe in His life and His death and His resurrection, John says you've seen the glory. You've seen the glory. The glory of the only Son of God, of the Father, full of grace and truth. Have you beheld that glory? Have you beheld that glory? I can promise you this. That when you behold that glory, you will truly begin to live in this life. You will truly experience and receive life. And that's what this book is going to show us. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, what a wonderful truth that is here revealed and encourages us of putting the Bible together for us. And I confess at times as a pastor my own apathy and my own dullness to such a truth, even to have confidence at times to preach these things because, well, your church doesn't seem at times to want to receive it. but I expect much better things here. And know, Lord, that this church, the Escondido URC, loves everything that You've revealed. Bless them today. Open their minds with this truth. Give them a joy in it. Give them a ministry constantly of grace and truth and let it fill their lives that it would lead to great praise in their lives and that they would see in this dark world the true light that is already shining. And thank you for your favor to us. Thank you for your care in revealing everything we need to know to be saved from all of our sins. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.