John 1:15-18 (Part 2)

This episode replaces the previous episode which was a duplicate of John 1:14

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

All right, if you would turn in your Bibles to John chapter one, verses fifteen through eighteen. The Bible says, John bare witness of him and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. And of his fullness have all we received in grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. And so I want us to look at uh course we've been looking at in John chapter one, just meeting Jesus. And uh John has introduced us to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Word of God. We've seen him as the light that is mentioned. We've seen that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and now we are going to be introduced uh to Jesus by John the Baptist. Now there's uh I keep mentioning the name John. Um not every time that John is mentioned in the scripture is it referring to John the Baptist. So the gospel of John is the Apostle John, and uh John the Baptist is who is called the forerunner of Christ. And so we're gonna see John's ministry here in verses 15 through 34. Uh but today uh we'll just do verses 15 through 18. And I want you to look at verse 15 and notice John's ministry. It says here, John bear witness of him. John bear witness of him. That word witness it means to testify, to charge, to give evidence, and to bear record. Now, John the apostle, uh, he came to, he heard the message, I believe, of John the Baptist. And uh as we'll see later on in the chapter, John the Baptist, he had some disciples. He had some people that he was teaching, uh, that he was uh, you know, that he was uh discipling, of course, and that's what the word disciple means. And but what was the emphasis? It was not about John, it was about Jesus. And matter of fact, it came to a point where John kind of ceased, uh, he kind of uh left the scene, if you will, and he said, Hey, you guys, you need to follow Christ. And listen, anyone that disciples anyone, we need to remember that that uh, you know, though we may teach a Sunday school class or maybe pastor a church or uh, you know, may preach to others or witness to others, listen, we're not getting people to follow us. Uh we're pointing people to the Lord Jesus Christ. I think of the woman at the well in John chapter 4. She came, she went into the city after she came to know the Lord Jesus Christ, and she came, she said, Come see a man which told me all things that ever I did is not this the Christ. And then the Bible says that those men left that city and they came and they heard Christ for themselves and they believed. And listen, that's the whole point of every one of our ministry, is we're just trying to, we're trying to lead others to Christ. That's the whole point of this podcast, is that, listen, I I don't want a following or whatever. I want people to listen to these messages, of course, and I want people to share them and all those things. Uh, but you know what the whole purpose of this is? This is God's purpose. Uh, God has, for whatever reason, uh it's he's God, and that's what he wanted to do. And and he decided that he wanted man to share the message of the gospel, and uh that's that's what this man, John, is doing, and that's what this man that you're listening to right now, John, is doing. Is I'm simply sharing the witness that that has been uh recorded for us in the Word of God, but also my personal experience and knowing Christ as my Savior, and I'm sure we'll talk more about those things. But John's ministry, uh, it says that John bear witness of him. That word witness again, it means to testify. He testified of him. He gave charge of him, he gave evidence of him, he bore record of him. Uh matter of fact, if you go to John chapter 20, uh he gives the whole purpose of the book in John 20 and verse 31. When we get to it, it says, But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name. That's the whole purpose of John's witness. And it wasn't about him, it was about Jesus Christ. And I want you to notice also verses 6 through 8. It says, There was a man sent from God whose name was John, that's speaking of John the Baptist. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. And Christian, you and I, we are not that light. Uh we are not that specific light of Jesus Christ, but we have that light within us. And we, as Paul said, and I believe it's 2 Corinthians chapter 4, he says that when we give the gospel, the light of the glorious gospel shines when we do that. And praise the Lord for that. Isn't that a blessing that God would take these earthen vessels and that he would allow us to shine the light of Christ to this lost and dying world? And again, that's that's the whole reason that we're doing what we're doing right now as I speak. John's ministry was not about John, but it was about making Jesus known. In verse 8, again, it says, He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. And Jesus did say, We are the light of the word. We're simply reflecting his light. Verse 15, this was he of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. And so notice where John puts the emphasis. It's all about Jesus Christ. It's uh he's the one that I came to tell you about. Verse 27, it says, He it is who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoes latchet I am not worthy to unloose. He says, I'm not even worthy. And I I know how I can understand this past week. I know how John feels. All right. Uh listen, I I know what it feels like to feel like a wretch and all those things. I just not too long ago I was praying, and I'm like, Lord, I don't understand. I don't understand why you love me. I don't understand why you saved me, but listen, it's all about him. It's all about his grace, it's all about his mercy, that he'll save uh the lowest sinner and change our lives. And praise the Lord for that. But John's ministry, John bare witness of him. Now I want you to look at John's message again in verses 15 through 18. The Bible says, And John bear witness of him and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. And of his fullness have all we received in grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. So I want you to notice this message that John has in verses 15 through 18. First of all, I want you to notice that it's uh the pre uh a message of the preeminence of Christ in verse 15, he was preferred before me, for he was before me. That word preferred, it means to cause to be, to come into being. Uh Luke chapter 1, verse 36, it tells us, and behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age. And this is the sixth month with her, who was called Baron. This is the message that Mary got when she found out that she was going to conceive and bear a son whose name would be Jesus. She found out that Mary, or Elizabeth, her cousin, was six months pregnant already with John the Baptist. And so I believe, in reference to what John is saying here, he was preferred before me, for he was before me. Uh let me read the whole verse again. John bear witness of him and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. Listen, Jesus came in birth as far as becoming a man. Jesus came after John the Baptist. Remember, John is called, John the Baptist is the forerunner of Christ. And he so he was born first as far as an earthly birth is concerned, and he came preaching that message that Christ was coming into the world. We'll see later on in the book that he says, Behold, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Even though John was born first physically, notice what he says about the Lord Jesus Christ, he was before me. And the Bible tells us when we study the Word of God, we find out that the Lord Jesus Christ, he was from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. He is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, the Bible says in the book of Revelation. And uh, even though that in his physical birth and coming to this earth to live a sinless life and die a sacrificial death and be buried and raised from the dead, even though in that birth, that physical birth, he was after John the Baptist, listen, he has always been and he always will be, and he has always existed. Again, back in John chapter 1 and verse 1, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. But the word that became flesh in verse 14, he was born after John the Baptist. And so, listen, you tell you you talk about something that's kind of hard to wrap your mind around, but hey, listen, praise the Lord. That's what the Word of God teaches, and we take that by faith, and we just simply believe that. But again, he's God. John, uh Luke chapter 1, verse 30 through 36 is the passage that tells us about when the angel came to Mary to announce that she would conceive and be with child and would call him Jesus. John, though six months older than Jesus in the flesh, he understood who Jesus was and emphasized that he was already in existence far before John because he had always been in existence. That word before it means in front of, in place or time. And he was uh he is definitely in place in front of John. He's far above John the Baptist or any other Bible teacher or preacher, and in time he certainly was before John the Baptist. In Colossians chapter 1, verse 17 and 18. I love this passage. It says, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. And listen, man, it it is, and and and I need to be reminded of this. Listen, it's all about him. He is number one. This is the whole reason. Listen, the whole reason that I'm sitting here and speaking to you right now at this very moment is because he saved me by his grace and he sought me uh in his mercy. Uh, he looked for me and he came and found me, and he wants me to tell you about him and how wonderful he is, and he is a wonderful Savior. I want you to notice another thing about this message that John the Baptist had. I want you to notice it was a message of the provision of Christ. Notice what it says there, and of his fullness have all we received in grace for grace. And uh praise the Lord. Listen to this word fullness, what it means, a repletion or completion, what fills uh as content, supplement, uh, multitude, what is filled, a container, uh performance or prep a period, to make replete, to cram a net, to level up a hollow. And I can't help as I'm reading that right now, to think about Isaiah chapter 55 and verse one. Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not. Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Uh incline your ear and come unto me here, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Listen, this message that John has, he says, and of his fullness have all we received in grace for grace. He said, You know what? I used to be so empty, and I can testify with John that I have received his fullness. Listen, the Bible says, Oh, taste and s taste and see that the Lord is good. And I can tell you, friend, that that ever since I have tasted the grace of God, the things of this world just don't taste the same. There's a restaurant that my wife and I always end up talking about this, talking about food, uh, but uh always talk about this when I think about um tasting. Uh there was a restaurant that my wife and I love to go to uh when we can. It's an expensive restaurant, but there was a there was a lobster ravioli that they had there that that uh that the first time that I had that, I felt like there were taste buds that I had that had never experienced flavor before. And and it was like uh the light came on when I took a bite of that lobster ravioli. And uh ever since that day, there's nothing else has tasted the same. And uh, you know, you you think of eating at good places, and there's all kinds of good places. We have all kinds of good food that we get to eat. But when you taste the grace of God, I'm just gonna tell you right now, I know from personal experience that the things of this world, uh, the things that I used to think were pleasurable, the drugs and the alcohol and the sinful pleasures, the other sinful pleasures of this world, they just don't taste the same anymore. And this message that John the Baptist came preaching, and this message that I'm preaching to you right now, uh it is of the provision of Christ. John said, and of his fullness have all we received and grace for grace. And and friend, I can tell you from personal experience, when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, my soul became satisfied. It became satisfied like I had never known and like I had never experienced before. And I want you to notice about this provision of Christ that he provided a savior in Galatians chapter 4 and verse 4 but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. God provided a savior. We talked about last time about the birth of Christ and how God became a man and the whole purpose of that. And that passage I just read you in Galatians, it explains that. That when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman. In other words, uh that's a uh Paul's version of saying that he was born of a virgin, um, made of a woman, made under the law. He took completely, totally fulfilled the law of God that no one else could do to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons, that so that we could be brought into his family. And that's God's desire for you right now. He wants you to be in his family, he wants to bring you to himself. I want you to notice not only did he provide a savior, but he but provided completeness for man. In Colossians chapter 2, verse 9 and 10 says, For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And listen to this verse, and ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. You know something that always plagued me before coming to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior? I always felt like there was something missing. I always felt like there's just something else that is needed in my life, and I could not put my finger on it. I thought that maybe a relationship might satisfy that. I thought that maybe friendships might satisfy that. I thought that maybe social status or money, financial things might satisfy that, and maybe there's other things that come to your mind that you think are gonna satisfy that lack of completeness in your life. But I'm gonna tell you right now, and I know this from personal experience, and I know this from the scriptures, that ye are complete in him. I I found out everything, everything that I had been looking for for 27 years, uh it was found in him. When he came into my life, when I accepted him as my Lord and Savior, and he saved my soul by his grace, he changed my life, and I found I found completeness in him. In Christ dwells the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and we are complete in him. You will never know what life is about. You will never understand why you were put on this earth until you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. We see that he provided a savior, he provides completeness for men. And then I want you to notice, number three, he also provides grace. Notice again what it says in verse 16, and of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. That word grace is the divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in the life. Listen, there's people that you could go to here in Nicholasville, Kentucky, and you could ask them about who I was before 27 years ago. 27 but what for excuse me before 20 years ago, you could ask them about who I was and the things that I did and all those things. And you know what you're gonna find out, and if you were to compare what you heard then with what you may hear of me now, or what you may know of me now or see in my life, there's one word that can define that, and it's grace. And that word grace, it means the divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in the life. God divinely influenced my heart and my life when I started hearing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. God was working in my heart. There were people that were praying for me, and there was a pre uh church that was preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and um there were people that were testifying of the grace of God, and that began to influence my heart. And when I trusted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, when I understood that I was a sinner and I believed that he died for my sins and that he was buried and raised the third day, and when I called upon him to save me, believed his promise and the work that he did. I hope that you understand when I say I, I've just simply the only I that I can put in this is that I believed what he did. And Titus chapter 3, it talks about the grace of God that God has provided, and I'd like for you to listen to this passage. It says in Titus 3, 3, for we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy hateful and hating one another. But after that, the kindness and love of God, our Savior, toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. God's provided grace. There's grace that's provided for you. If you're out there and maybe you live a life, you live a life right now like I lived 20 years ago in sin and just struggling with the bondage of sin, and maybe you're not a drug addict, maybe you're a church member and you think you're a good person. It takes the same grace of God to save you because all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And there's nothing that we can do to be acceptable to God is only, it's only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and by his mercy and his grace. And this grace is provided for you. I love John 1.17. Again, notice what it says, for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Grace and truth. You know, in Romans 8.3 it says, For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Listen, if I've learned anything in the twenty years of knowing Christ as my Lord and Savior, I have learned that I am not a good person. There is a sin nature that dwells in me, even as a believer. There is a sin nature that lives inside of me, and it lusts and it desires to do evil. And if it were not for the grace of God, I would not be sitting here talking to you right now. And listen, there is none of us that is good enough to get to heaven. That's why Christ died. He's provided this grace for you and I. And that law, that law, you know what it does? It says again in verse 17, for the law was given by Moses. You know what that law does? It it makes us see if you'll look at that, look at the Ten Commandments, look at them. Look at them and be honest with yourself. You can't keep all that. And the Bible says in James chapter 2 and verse 10 that whoso keepeth the whole law. And yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. If you've broken one, you've broken them all, friend. And because of that, we come short of the glory of God. We are born with that sin nature. And the law was given to bring us to Christ, the Bible tells us in the book of Galatians. It brings us to Christ and makes us realize that, hey, I can't do this, but he did. And I'm going to accept what he did as the payment for my sin. And grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. He gives us grace. Hey, listen. He's wanting to influence you. He's wanting to draw you to him. And he speaks the truth. Hey, that woman at the well that we'll get to in John chapter 4, listen, that woman, she had five husbands. She had been married five times and she was living with someone that she was not married to. And that was sin. And Jesus addressed that sin. But you know what? He did it with grace, and he did it with truth. And he has provided grace. He's provided salvation. And he saved that woman, by the way, when she believed on him, and he'll save you. But this message that John preached, and I'm getting hung up on this one, on that grace, but praise the Lord. He provided a savior. This message is that he provided completeness for men. And this message is a proclamation of Christ. Notice again in verse 18, he hath declared him. That word declared, it means to consider aloud, to rehearse, to unfold. Have you ever noticed how often Jesus referred to the Father in John chapter 12, verse 49 through 50, for I have not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak, and I know that his commandment is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak, therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. We will see much more of this that Jesus declared of the Father in the book of John. But uh I want you to notice uh about the statement that he makes in verse 18. No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. And so uh that word seen, it means to discern clearly, to attend to, to experience. John chapter 4, verse 24 tells us that God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Um no man has physically laid eyes on God the Father, you understand? But God did become a man, he became God the Son, and he dwelt among us. And uh as Jesus told uh Philip in John chapter 14, he says, If you've seen the Father, you've seen me. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. And so in Christ we see the characteristics of the Father, and we see him uh manifested in the flesh. This passage is speaking, uh there's a passage in Exodus 33, 18 through 23 that you could look at on that note, and there's other passages, but listen, I want to emphasize the fact that this message, this message that is given to you today, hey, listen, this is about Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came and he died for your sins, and he was buried and raised the third day so that you could have eternal life. And maybe you're out there and you feel like, I don't know what my purpose is. I don't know why I'm here on this earth, I don't know what I'm doing here. Listen, he's provided completeness for you. There's if there's something that you feel is missing in your life and you're not a believer, I promise you that that thing that is missing from you is Jesus. I spent so many years trying to fill, I always say it, I say it this way, I tried to fill a hole that I feel like was is the size of the Grand Canyon with just spoonfuls of sand in my drug use and all the sinful pleasures of this world and all those things, and nothing could ever fill that void. But Christ came into my heart and Christ came into my life, and and since then I have found contentment and peace and joy in him. And if you're out there and if you don't know him as your Lord and Savior, today would be a wonderful day to do that. But I encourage you, listen, we do have a fan mail section. I don't know how it works, but if you look at your podcast and fool around with it, you might be able to figure it out and and uh maybe we could hear from you. But listen, if you if you if there's something I can do to help you and to be a blessing to you, please let me do that. But uh may the Lord bless you and have a good day.