The Glory of the Son: Full of Grace and Truth, John 1:1-18

He Has Explained Him, John 1:14-18

 

John 1:18 “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

 

Clarity about the Nature of God as Explained by His Son, a few examples from John

1. God hates religious hypocrisy, John 2:15-17
2. God loves sinners and saves them through faith, John 3:16-17
3. God calls saved sinners to share His message of love with others, John 4:34-35
4. God will hold everyone accountable to His Son, John 5:22-24
5. The glory of God the Father is shared completely with the Son and the glory of the Son is displayed for the glory of the Father, John 5:22-24
6. God is moving all of human history to His desired end – the culmination of all things in His Son Jesus Christ through the power of the resurrection, John 6:38-40
7. God is one in essence and three in person as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
8. In perfect unity with perfect desire and goal to glorify God the Father through the exaltation of the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit, John 7:37-39,
9. God is a redeeming God and takes trials, troubles, difficulties, even from birth and glorifies Himself through our weaknesses, John 9
10. God deals gently with us as a shepherd loves and cares for his sheep, John 10:1-18
11. God enters into our suffering and feels the crushing weight of our heartbreak, John 11:35
12. God’s greatest act of demonstrating His glory comes in His greatest act of humility in the death of the Son for the sins of the world, John 12:27-36
13. Our greatest act of demonstrating the glory of God is to imitate His Son’s sacrificial, servant-like life and death, John 13:1-18
14. Those who believe in Him and imitate His sacrificial life will receive the ultimate joyful gift of being with God forever, John 14:1-6
15. We are incapable of this life of faith and service on our own, so God gives us a continual, abiding gift of the Son and the Holy Spirit, John 14-16
16. God longs for us to enter into the fellowship of the Trinity forever and ever enjoying the incomparable, infinitely beautiful, infinitely captivating glory, John 17
17. God’s willingness to accomplish His plan extends to the most extreme sacrifice on His part by the humiliation of His Son at the hands of sinful people, John 18-19
18. God, the eternal, triune, glorious One, proved with great power and glory that all He had shown about Himself in His Son was true by destroying the power of sin and death when the Father raised the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit, John 20-21

 

The Glory of the Son: Full of Grace and Truth, John 1:1-18

He Has Explained Him, John 1:14-18

 

Scripture Reading and Prayer

• Read John 1:1-18 (Slides) as read by Chris Hines

 

John 1:18 “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

 

1. We come to this last sermon on the prologue to John (Title Slide)

• Kids’ assignment
• Read John 1:18 (Slide 2)
• For today, we will focus on this brief statement “He has explained Him”
• I thought about this statement all week and concluded that John ends his prologue with this statement because he wants us to read the rest of the Gospel with this in our thinking
• We should be asking this question on every page, “How does what Jesus just said or did explain the essential character of God?’

1. 1 God hates religious hypocrisy, John 2:15-17

• Read John 2:15-16 (Slide 3)

1. 2 God loves sinners and saves them through faith, John 3:16-17

• Read John 3:16-17 (Slide 4)

1. 3 God calls saved sinners to share His message of love with others, John 4:34-35

• Read 4:34-35 (Slide 5)

1. 4 and 5 God will hold everyone accountable to His Son,
   The glory of God the Father is shared completely with the Son and the glory of the Son is displayed for the glory of the Father, John 5:22-24

• Read John 5:22-24 (Slide 6)

1. 6 God is moving all of human history to His desired end – the culmination of all things in His Son Jesus Christ through the power of the resurrection, John 6:38-40

• Read John 6:38-40 (Slide 7)

1. 7 and 8 God is one in essence and three in person as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
   In perfect unity with perfect desire and goal to glorify God the Father through the exaltation of the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit, John 7:37-39,

• Read John 7:37-39 (Slide 8)

VIII. 11 God enters into our suffering and feels the crushing weight of our heartbreak, John 11:35

• Read John 11:35 (Slide 9)

IX.    13 Our greatest act of demonstrating the glory of God is to imitate His Son’s sacrificial, servant-like life and death, John 13:1-18

• Read John 3:3-5 (Slide 10)

1. 14 Those who believe in Him and imitate His sacrificial life will receive the ultimate joyful gift of being with God forever, John 14:1-6

• Read John 14:1-3 (Slide 11)

1. 17 God’s willingness to accomplish His plan extends to the most extreme sacrifice on His part by the humiliation of His Son at the hands of sinful people, John 18-19

• Read John 19:17-18 (Slide 12)

1. God, the eternal, triune, glorious One, proved with great power and glory that all He had shown about Himself in His Son was true by destroying the power of sin and death when the Father raised the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit, John 20-21

• Read John 20:8-9 (Slide 13)

1. Conclusion: Blank slide (Slide 14)

• Everything we need to know about God is revealed to us in His Son Jesus Christ
• He is the fulfillment of every promise, every law, every hope
• He does what His Father asks of Him and in doing so His Father makes much of His Son
• And we are called to do the same

 

 

 

¹⁵ And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; ¹⁶ and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it was written, “ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME.” John 2:15-17

 

¹⁶ “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. ¹⁷ For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. John 3:16-17

 

³⁴ Jesus *said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. John 4:34-35

 

²² For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, ²³ so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. ²⁴ “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. John 5:22-24

 

³⁸ For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. ³⁹ This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰ For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:38-40

 

³⁷ Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. ³⁸ He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” ³⁹ But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37-39

 

⁵⁴ Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’; ⁵⁵ and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word. ⁵⁶ Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” ⁵⁷ So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” ⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” John 8:54-58

 

³ Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. John 9:3

 

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. ¹² He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³ He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, ¹⁵ even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. ¹⁶ I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. ¹⁷ For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. ¹⁸ No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” John 10:11-18

 

³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him. ³¹ Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³² Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, ³⁴ and said, “Where have you laid him?” They *said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?” John 11:30-37

 

²⁷ “Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” ²⁹ So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, “An angel has spoken to Him.” ³⁰ Jesus answered and said, “This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes. ³¹ Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. ³² And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” ³³ But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die. ³⁴ The crowd then answered Him, “We have heard out of the Law that the Christ is to remain forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” ³⁵ So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. ³⁶ While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.” John 12:27-36

 

¹ Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. ² During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, ³ Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, ⁴ *got up from supper, and *laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. ⁵ Then He *poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. ⁶ So He *came to Simon Peter. He *said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” ⁷ Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” ⁸ Peter *said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” ⁹ Simon Peter *said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” ¹⁰ Jesus *said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” ¹¹ For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.” ¹² So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? ¹³ You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. ¹⁴ If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. ¹⁶ Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. ¹⁸ I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘HE WHO EATS MY BREAD HAS LIFTED UP HIS HEEL AGAINST ME.’ ¹⁹ From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He. ²⁰ Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” John 13:1-20

 

¹ “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. ² In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. ³ If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴ And you know the way where I am going.” ⁵ Thomas *said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. John 14:1-6

 

¹ “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. ⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. ⁹ Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. John 15:1-11