Savior of the Nations, Come (John 1:1-14)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.920 --> 00:00:14.189 I will read versus one through fourteen. This is the word of God. 2 00:00:17.109 --> 00:00:21.859 In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and 3 00:00:23.179 --> 00:00:29.539 the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things 4 00:00:29.660 --> 00:00:35.100 were made through him and without him was not anything made. That was made 5 00:00:35.140 --> 00:00:41.450 in him was life, and the life was the light of men. The 6 00:00:41.530 --> 00:00:47.649 light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. There was 7 00:00:47.729 --> 00:00:52.560 a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness, 8 00:00:52.600 --> 00:00:58.560 to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. He 9 00:00:58.799 --> 00:01:03.119 was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The 10 00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:07.430 true light which in light, or the true light which gives light to everyone, 11 00:01:07.069 --> 00:01:11.989 was coming into the world. He was in the world and the world 12 00:01:11.109 --> 00:01:15.109 was made through him. Yet the world did not know him. He came 13 00:01:15.230 --> 00:01:19.900 to his own and his own people did not receive him, but to all 14 00:01:19.939 --> 00:01:23.900 who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right 15 00:01:25.780 --> 00:01:30.420 to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of 16 00:01:30.500 --> 00:01:34.409 the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of 17 00:01:34.569 --> 00:01:40.810 God. In the word, became flesh and dwelt among us, and we 18 00:01:40.930 --> 00:01:45.810 have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the father, 19 00:01:45.930 --> 00:02:00.590 full of grace and truth. Then this the psalm that we sang earlier. 20 00:02:00.870 --> 00:02:05.310 I'm going to flip back there and read it to you, Psalm thirty four, 21 00:02:07.710 --> 00:02:12.310 as a lot of it feels to me very much like the proverbs do 22 00:02:12.949 --> 00:02:17.860 on their number of literary reasons for that. One of them is these contrasts, 23 00:02:19.819 --> 00:02:23.620 not just a sign of proverbs but one of the things we often find 24 00:02:23.659 --> 00:02:25.099 in scriptures. I want to read one of them to you. It's Psalm 25 00:02:25.099 --> 00:02:30.689 three thousand, four hundred and twenty one. Affliction will slay the wicked. 26 00:02:31.090 --> 00:02:36.810 This is, of course, said in the context where the wicked are slaying 27 00:02:36.930 --> 00:02:40.729 those who are afflicting those afflicting the afflicted. I guess would be the way 28 00:02:40.729 --> 00:02:47.560 to say that there is. There are in scripture many of these kinds of 29 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:54.000 things, these contrasts between the way things really are and the way things seem 30 00:02:54.120 --> 00:02:59.909 to be, and there are many reasons for this. One is that God, 31 00:03:01.909 --> 00:03:07.229 God likes to humble us, I'll put it that way. He changes 32 00:03:07.750 --> 00:03:10.949 events in the world, he makes them unpredictable, is what I mean to 33 00:03:12.030 --> 00:03:15.340 say, so that we can't predict them, so that we will be humbled 34 00:03:15.979 --> 00:03:22.300 so that we will trust him and know that we are not gods and goddesses 35 00:03:22.900 --> 00:03:28.969 to decide our own faith, but we must always rely on him. There's 36 00:03:28.969 --> 00:03:35.129 another reason that things are not always what they seem, and that is because 37 00:03:35.650 --> 00:03:39.289 of our sin. In our sin, we often fix our eyes on the 38 00:03:39.409 --> 00:03:47.360 things of this world blind and I'm denying the things that are above particularly God 39 00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:53.439 himself. And so things are not as they seem because we perceive them wrongly, 40 00:03:54.199 --> 00:03:59.189 not because they are presented to US wrongly. A mountain is a mountain, 41 00:03:59.270 --> 00:04:01.909 a tree is a tree, and yet we worship these things. This 42 00:04:02.030 --> 00:04:09.949 is not God's fault, it is ours, exchanging the glory of God for 43 00:04:10.620 --> 00:04:15.740 created things. And there's yet another reason why things are not always as they 44 00:04:15.779 --> 00:04:21.259 seem. One is sin and ignorance, another is that God keeps us on 45 00:04:21.379 --> 00:04:28.850 our toes on purpose, and yet a third one is that it's in the 46 00:04:28.889 --> 00:04:36.050 veiling of things that God gives us grace. He comes to us with all 47 00:04:36.170 --> 00:04:41.959 of his glory and his might, but in a way that we can understand. 48 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:46.480 That's a gracious thing. I'm God comes to us when he comes into 49 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:53.790 the world, he comes fully God. He doesn't leave what Jesus doesn't leave 50 00:04:54.149 --> 00:04:58.029 his divinity up in heaven for a while and then come down and be a 51 00:04:58.110 --> 00:05:01.829 man for a while. Now he is fully, God fully divine and he 52 00:05:01.949 --> 00:05:08.899 takes on flesh, but it's veiled and it's veiled, Paul says. And 53 00:05:08.980 --> 00:05:15.699 Corinthians to confound the wise. He comes in weakness and all add two weak 54 00:05:15.899 --> 00:05:24.170 ones to show the wisdom in the power of God. Paul says to the 55 00:05:24.410 --> 00:05:28.290 Corinthian Church, he says, not many of you were honorable, not many 56 00:05:28.329 --> 00:05:31.209 of you were wise. We weren't. The CORINTHIAN church and the Church in 57 00:05:31.410 --> 00:05:36.600 general throughout history has not been a great collection of all the most wonderful people 58 00:05:36.639 --> 00:05:43.920 throughout the world. The Church has often been a collection of misfits and outcasts 59 00:05:44.040 --> 00:05:48.720 and people that are marginalized and on the edges, people that struggle and are 60 00:05:48.839 --> 00:05:57.350 poor, people that are burdened and weighed down. In the Gospels we are 61 00:05:57.430 --> 00:06:02.709 reminded frequently that it is the tax collectors and the prostitutes who came to Jesus 62 00:06:03.339 --> 00:06:10.500 when all of the learned leaders and theologians and those who should have known much 63 00:06:10.540 --> 00:06:18.250 better, I failed to even come. This is cond these are contrast, 64 00:06:18.449 --> 00:06:21.529 then, on the one hand you have the great glory and holiness of God 65 00:06:21.970 --> 00:06:28.129 and on the other hand here are tax collectors and prostitutes coming into that glory, 66 00:06:28.170 --> 00:06:36.199 being welcomed into his presence. But this is the way God has chosen 67 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:44.680 and it is our very salvation. And we are reminded of this in John 68 00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:49.509 Chapter One, where we are told that in the beginning was the word, 69 00:06:49.829 --> 00:06:56.910 and the word was with God, and the word was God. This word 70 00:06:57.230 --> 00:07:01.259 is not an idea or a thing, but a person, John tells us, 71 00:07:01.980 --> 00:07:09.699 for it was he. He was in the beginning with God, and 72 00:07:09.860 --> 00:07:15.769 this person, who is, of course, Jesus, John Identifies Him as 73 00:07:15.889 --> 00:07:29.410 something beyond what is fully expressible. He was with God and he was God, 74 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:38.120 and he of course remains God. Jesus was not, as the Aryan 75 00:07:38.279 --> 00:07:44.430 heresy said, one of the created beings, one of the higher order created 76 00:07:44.709 --> 00:07:50.750 creatures. Know, John says he was in the beginning with God and all 77 00:07:50.910 --> 00:07:58.269 things were made through him and without him was not anything made. That was 78 00:07:58.430 --> 00:08:03.180 made. Jesus is the Creator, the one who said in the beginning, 79 00:08:03.819 --> 00:08:07.220 let there be light. He is the one who create aided the world, 80 00:08:07.259 --> 00:08:11.420 and it was through Jesus that this world was made. The father spoke his 81 00:08:11.620 --> 00:08:20.250 word and it was done, and now he is speaking a new word through 82 00:08:20.410 --> 00:08:28.279 the word, a word which will bring light into the world, light that 83 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:33.120 shines in the darkness, and darkness will not overcome it. Darkness, the 84 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:37.799 darkness has not overcome it. The light that comes into the world in some 85 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:43.429 ways is so bright. We remember the Shining Star that the wiseman follow, 86 00:08:43.549 --> 00:08:48.669 the angels, glorious in the sky. Then, other ways, so veiled 87 00:08:50.629 --> 00:08:58.899 there was, at night Mary and Joseph among the sensus. Jesus for many 88 00:08:58.980 --> 00:09:07.539 years a child growing in wisdom, knowledge and stature. And even when he 89 00:09:07.659 --> 00:09:13.850 does his works, they often are veiled in various ways. They're done in 90 00:09:13.289 --> 00:09:20.250 his ways and in his time, not as everyone thinks will happen. But 91 00:09:20.450 --> 00:09:24.600 nevertheless, even though it's not always what we expect, even though it's not 92 00:09:24.679 --> 00:09:30.799 always what it seems, Jesus is the true light, and we read this 93 00:09:30.919 --> 00:09:33.519 a doubt. This in verse nine. He was the true light and which 94 00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:37.440 gives light to everyone. He was in the world and the world was made 95 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:41.710 through him. Yet the world did not know him. Verse Twelve, but 96 00:09:41.789 --> 00:09:45.909 to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave 97 00:09:45.990 --> 00:09:52.259 the right to become children of God. This great work of God is Jesus, 98 00:09:52.340 --> 00:09:58.100 comes into the world as described as light, light which causes us. 99 00:09:58.539 --> 00:10:01.539 Light is something which causes us to see. It's light which gives knowledge, 100 00:10:01.539 --> 00:10:07.450 it's light which gives wisdom, it's light which takes away fear because there's no 101 00:10:07.610 --> 00:10:13.289 more darkness. It's light which gives life to like the sun, to the 102 00:10:13.409 --> 00:10:16.289 plants. In verse thirteen, we read that this is the very this is 103 00:10:16.490 --> 00:10:22.639 the case for us because when we believe in him, we are born not 104 00:10:22.840 --> 00:10:24.679 of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will 105 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:33.759 of man, but of God. These contrasts are our great hope, a 106 00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:37.389 contrast that, on the one hand, here we stand, in some ways 107 00:10:37.509 --> 00:10:43.350 looking no different than the day before we became a Christian, and yet entirely 108 00:10:43.590 --> 00:10:48.669 different, having our sins pardoned, knowing the light of God, being born 109 00:10:48.789 --> 00:10:52.860 of God and now having a right to him or to him and to his 110 00:10:54.620 --> 00:11:01.220 inheritance that he gives to us. I want to read to you now more 111 00:11:01.259 --> 00:11:07.409 of these contrasts and in an expression of these, from him three hundred and 112 00:11:07.610 --> 00:11:11.049 three, if you would turn there with me, please. This is different 113 00:11:11.129 --> 00:11:15.169 than the one that I had marked in your bulletins. I changed my mind 114 00:11:16.610 --> 00:11:22.080 him three hundred and three. This is a hymn, a marked by these 115 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:26.759 contrasts. Are marked by, on the one hand, helping us to understand 116 00:11:26.919 --> 00:11:31.720 in these biblical terms and the greatness and the glory of God, and yet 117 00:11:33.590 --> 00:11:39.950 the way in which he comes to us and to whom he comes. Like 118 00:11:41.070 --> 00:11:46.259 to read this with you and then we'll sing it together. All praise to 119 00:11:46.379 --> 00:11:52.940 you, eternal Lord, clothed in our human flesh and blood, a manger 120 00:11:52.940 --> 00:12:01.049 choosing for your throne, while worlds on worlds are yours alone. The skies 121 00:12:01.169 --> 00:12:07.929 did once before you bow. A Virgin's arms contain you. Now the angels 122 00:12:09.049 --> 00:12:15.570 who in You, who rejoiced, now listen for your infant voice, a 123 00:12:15.690 --> 00:12:20.799 little child. You are our guest, that weary ones in you may rest, 124 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:28.279 forlorn and lowly. Is your birth, that we may rise to heaven 125 00:12:28.440 --> 00:12:35.110 from Earth. You came to us in darkest night to make us children of 126 00:12:35.269 --> 00:12:41.909 the light, to make us, in the realms divine as your own. 127 00:12:41.950 --> 00:12:48.340 Angels Round you shine all this for us. Your love has done by this 128 00:12:48.899 --> 00:12:54.860 to you. Our love is one for this. We tune our cheerful lays 129 00:12:54.379 --> 00:13:01.769 and shout our thanks in ceaseless praise. These are the things that we ought 130 00:13:01.809 --> 00:13:09.090 to be considering when we consider what it means that Jesus came into this world 131 00:13:09.330 --> 00:13:15.759 and dwelt among us. But the God of God, light of light, 132 00:13:15.799 --> 00:13:20.000 Very God, very a very God who commands the whole host of angels, 133 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:28.830 comes and rests in a mother's arms that we might be saved from our sins. 134 -->