The Glory of the One and Only, Who Came From the Father

The Glory of the One and Only Who Came From The Father John 1.14 The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us and we have beheld His glory the glory of the One and Only who has come from the Father full of grace and truth. the glory of the One and Only Who has come from the Father… This morning we are going to look closely at John 1.14 and John 3.16 on this matter of God the Father sending, giving His One and Only Son. We ought to think of the Father giving. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! II Corinthians 9:15 In our celebration we give thanks. But do we think what it cost Him?! Indescribable, Unspeakable, Unspeakably precious You can never tell the whole story of it. Beyond language… no words can do it justice. There is nothing you can relate it to. And yet in Genesis 22.1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” 3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. We look at Abraham,the father of the faithful, who went through an experience, on this Earth, that our Father in Heaven went through and so much more with His One and Only Son, Jesus. He did this through… The Word becoming flesh because God so loves the world * God gave His One and Only Son Being an only child like my Dad. Those who are the only child understand. It is unique. All the parental love on that one soul. Special times of one on one. Every child is special. An only child is very special. This was the Supreme Sacrifice. Jesus left Heaven to die on the cross. He died for sins he did not commit Nor crimes He had done. He gave His very Best for you and the whole world. With Him From Eternity Before time began, God was. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, complete, oneness The giving This was out of love for the world, for lost sinners, that God gave. Jesus gave Himself up. Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her… Ephesians 5.25 Was ere a gift like the Savior given? No not one! Unique One of a kind Priceless How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! I John 3.1 Lavished = to give a gift, to give one to someone as his own The Father poured out His love on us by giving us His Indescribable Gift, the gift of His One and Only Son. * His Glory Brightness and Splendor Mild He lays His Glory by Veiled in Flesh, the Godhead see, Hail the Incarnate Diety He left the glory of Heaven. He left the Glory He had with the Father from the beginning. the glory of his self-sacrifice. We have looked upon Him giving up everything for us, renouncing His crown and sceptre, laying aside His royal robes and splendour, leaving His Father's ’s house, and palaces, and honour; becoming man; nay, a poor man, a despised afflicted man; nay, becoming obedient to death, even the death of the cross. We have read history through, but we never saw a self -sacrifice that could equal His. In Him selfishness never lived, and therefore, never needed to be kept in check. He was not his own. John 17. 4 I have brought You glory on earth by finishing the work You gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify Me in Your Presence with the glory I had with You before the world began. Glory brought to the Father by finishing the work on earth. Glory in the cross, in His Death, Resurrection and in His Return at His Ascension. God exalted Him. We see here the completeness Christ had and has with His Father. Coming to this Earth, finishing the work, returning to Glory with even greater glory was Jesus with the Father. * His Coming Advent First time We see the nativity. We see the Creator among the creatures. God with man is now residing. We think of the Gift of the Father, His One and Only. Think how we prepare for guests. Think of what was prepared for Him. Prepare your hearts to celebrate His birth, His Holy Nativity and… Parousia Second Advent, Second Coming, Second Coming of Christ. Coming again Living in the light, ready to go in the twinkling of an eye. He came from the Father. He returned to the Father. He is coming again at the time set by the Father In this time, Advent, take time to Come and Adore Him, Christ, the LORD Move into and among your neighborhood. Thank God for His indescribable Gift!

The Word Became Flseh

The Word Became Flesh John 1.14 The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us and we have beheld His glory the glory of the One and Only who has come from the Father full of grace and truth. The Word became flesh and blood,
    and moved into the neighborhood. The next four weeks we are going to focus on this verse. It tells of Advent, the Arrival Christmas has lost its meaning. The secular has overcome the sacred. People can celebrate without having a clue what it is about. The people of God celebrate Christ’s first coming. This verse speaks of that event. John gives us the Eagle Eye’s view. He shows us things up close. He writes in this first chapter in spiritual terms. Matthew tells us of a Joseph and Mary and how Jesus was born, Luke gives us the manger and the Angel and shepherds but John writes from Heavenly and Earth Perspective about the coming of Jesus. He takes us way back into eternity, way before Jesus was born, before the Creation. The Word a word, uttered by a living voice, embodies a conception or idea The essential Word of God, Jesus Christ, the personal wisdom and power in union with God, His minister in creation and government of the universe, the cause of all the world's life both physical and ethical, which for the procurement of man's salvation put on human nature in the person of Jesus the Messiah, the second person in the Godhead, and shone forth conspicuously from His words and deeds. A Greek philosopher named Heraclitus first used the term “Logos” around 600 B.C. to designate the Divine reason or plan which coordinates a changing universe. Jesus is the Logos. The Word of God, Jesus and the Written Word, the Bible are the same. The Word is God. “I bow down toward Your Holy temple and give thanks to Your Name for Your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for You have exalted above all things Your Name and Your Word.”
– Psalm 138:2 John, the Apostle of Love, calls Jesus, the Word of Life. I John 1.1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of Life. 2 The Life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the Eternal Life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. Hebrews 1.1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, Whom He appointed Heir of all things, and through Whom also He made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful Word. God spoke through His Word, Jesus. You and me, we use so very many clumsy words The noise of what we often say is not worth being heard When the Father's wisdom wanted to communicate His love He spoke it in one final perfect Word He spoke the incarnation and then so was born the Son His final word was Jesus, He needed no other one Spoke flesh and blood, so He could bleed and make a way divine And so was born the baby who would die to make it mine And so the Father's fondest thought took on flesh and bone He spoke the living luminous word, at once His will was done And so the transformation that in man had been unheard Took place in God the Father as He spoke that final word He spoke the incarnation and then so was born the Son His final word was Jesus, He needed no other one Spoke flesh and blood, so He could bleed and make a way divine And so was born the baby who would die to make it mine And so the light became alive And manna became man Eternity stepped into time So we could understand He spoke the incarnation and then so was born the Son His final word was Jesus, He needed no other one Spoke flesh and blood, so He could bleed and make a way divine And so was born the baby who would die to make it mine And so was born the baby who would die to make it mine The Word became flesh… Flesh Humanity By being born into the human race. Adam was formed a man. Jesus came in through Mary and the Holy Spirit so He could be born and grow into a man. Became= to arise, appear in history, come upon the stage This time of the year we remember, God entered the Human Race. Mild He lays His glory by Born that man no more may die Born to raise the sons of earth Born to give them second birth Hark! The herald angels sing "Glory to the new-born king" This tremendous downward sweep from the area of the infinity into the realm of the finite, from the eternal into time. Surely our minds cannot grasp the scope of this. During these next 4 weeks let’s think about this. He entered our world, the one that sinned against Him, the one He created. He experienced everything we do… hunger, sorrow, rejection. This is our party! This one-of-a-kind God-Expression,
    who exists at the very heart of the Father,
    has made Him plain as day. John 14. 11 Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; And made His dwelling among us And moved into the neighborhood. He pitched His tent with us. “Not until you drink our tea…” Jesus came down. Theologians call this, “The Incarnation”. It is the biggest cross cultural move that ever took place. He left the splendor of Heaven, knowing His destiny. Notice with me that Jesus did not work at the Temple, nor did He teach in the Rabbinical Schools He was always among the people, the people of Galilee, just as it was prophesied. He came unto His own. His own did not receive Him. In part, in greater part, the people of Jerusalem, namely the leaders: Chief Priests, Teachers of the Law, the Pharisees But to all who did receive Him, He gave the right to be the Children of God. We are to let our lights shine… Now we are to show the Light, Jesus, to our neighborhood.

We Have Beheld His Glory

We Have Beheld His Glory John 1.14 The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us and we have beheld His glory the glory of the One and Only Who has come from the Father full of grace and truth. we have beheld His glory… For these eyewitnesses it was amazing. Jesus told Martha, just before He raised her brother, Lazarus, from being dead for four days in the tomb, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” John 11.40 This portion of the 14th verse of John 1, “we have beheld His glory…” is the personal testimony of John on behalf of the all Twelve. They saw the glory of God on a great number of occasions, regularly, daily, moment by moment What does that mean? * His Glory Splendor, brightness, Excellence, Majesty John 2. 11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which He revealed His glory; and His disciples believed in Him. What did He do there? His first miracle… only the servants and His disciples, six in number, saw it and witnessed it. He did it for the wedding guests, to meet the need of the couple. He did it for His disciples so they would believe in Him. Remember Him saying to them, on their way to the Garden, “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves” John 14.11 To run out of wine at a wedding feast was a disgrace. This is what this wedding would have been remembered for. This couple would never have lived it down. They would have the embarrassment with them for as long as they lived. He turned the water, six water jugs full, each containing between 20-30 gallons or approximately 150 gallons in total, into wine! It was like they had 600 bottles of the best wine ever! What a wedding gift! This miracle, as all of them, revealed His glory… His splendor, His Majesty… interesting number… at this time 6 disciples, 6 water jugs… Feeding of the 5,000, 12 disciples, twelve basket fulls of leftovers. Another notable time when He showed them His glory that the Gospel writers tell us about and that Peter wrote about it. II Peter 1. 16 For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with Him on the sacred mountain. The Mount of Transfiguration Eyewitnesses In the Great High Priestly Prayer Jesus prayed to His Father in Heaven… John 17. 4 I have brought You glory on earth by finishing the work You gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify Me in Your Presence with the glory I had with You before the world began. Now He is taking us back to last week’s message… John 1.1-3 His glory revealed in all the miracles but these three: Water into Wine Mount Transfiguration Raising Lazarus from the dead And of course His Resurrection… John 20. 17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” But was it just His miracles? Absolutely not. It was His words! Jesus said, “Heaven and Earth will pass away but My words will never pass away.” Then after the feeding of the 5000, many left Jesus. Let’s read about that. John 6.66 As a result of this many of His disciples left, and would no longer walk with Him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to leave also, do you?” 68 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69 And we have already believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” You have the words of eternal life. He spoke Wonderful Words of Life. He taught with authority. He spoke the Words that cheered and blessed. * Beheld Viewed attentively Contemplated it Viewed it with admiration This was the privilege of the Twelve… it became their responsibility to witness to it, tell about it, write about it, so that people would believe. John 20.30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. We ought to take time to contemplate His Glory. Sit for a few minutes quietly. Think about what is going on in Heaven. Read Revelation 4. Hear the cry by the four living creatures“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD God Almighty, Who was, and is, and is to come.” Contemplate: That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet. That He created everything. That He holds all things together. That Christ will soon appear. Consider: The lilies of the field The birds of the air All this is part of beholding His Glory. Look up at the sky. Isaiah 40:26-30 NLT Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of His great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing. O Jacob, how can you say the LORD does not see your troubles? O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights? Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of His understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. This is also beholding His glory. See the sunrise and the sunset. Take in the precision of changing seasons. * Think of the times when you have beheld His Glory. An answer to prayer A special moment where you knew it was Him A dream which He spoke to you in. When things seemed hopeless and He came through His peace in the midst of a storm * Christ in you, the Hope of Glory Colossians 1.27 Expectation of joy Confident of Eternal Salvation Splendor, Brightness, Majesty John 1.14 The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us and we have beheld His glory the glory of the One and Only who has come from the Father full of grace and truth.