This is a rush transcript.

[00:00:01] Please grab your Bibles and open them again to our new home. The first chapter of the Gospel of John, it is so great to have you all here tonight as we conclude what has been, I would say, an exciting week here at our church.

[00:00:18] Yeah, definitely.

[00:00:21] I can honestly say there's nowhere else I'd rather be no. Nothing else I'd rather be doing than hanging out with you. Beautiful people study in the Gospel of John. And we've learned a lot. If you're looking at chapter one, I mean, really, we started on Sunday with an introduction to the whole book and we had to redefine what does it mean to believe in Jesus Christ? What does it mean to have eternal life? And we have some people who are even here in the room right now who realize since Sunday that they did not really believe in Jesus and have eternal life. And I believe it seems like that God has now granted them a new kind of life. So God is already saving people through the preaching of this book. It seems here at our church, and that's awesome. But then we started to get into on Tuesday night. Look back with me at verse one, John, chapter one, verse one in the beginning was the word and the word was with God. And the word was, what does it say there? Shout it out. Jesus Christ is God is the expression, the communication of the father. And then we made it very clear, if you were here on Tuesday, a verse three says all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. And we left here with a very high view of Jesus that he is our creator, that he made us, that he formed you when you were in your mother's womb, that everything that has ever been made was made by Jesus. And even right now, he is upholding the universe by the word of his power. And so that we should worship Jesus as our creator on anybody won't give any man to that. Yes, that's who he is. Now, if you were here last night, we had the privilege of having Pastor Mike join us and he kept it going in verse four.

[00:02:08] In him was life, and the life was the light of men. So now here's where life comes from. It comes forth in light. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Pastor Mike, he went from there and he began to show us all of the signs of Jesus giving life throughout the gospel of John. What a great preview we got of what we're going to get to study in this book. And he talked about how Jesus is the light, taking us out of the darkness, out of our old evil, sinful lives and transforming us into this new life. Well, we can go from being blind to now seeing who he is. And we saw that Jesus is the light.

[00:02:52] And now tonight we come to really what we've been building towards the entire time. We come to really the climax of what we're studying here in this prolog and just jump straight to it with me in verse 14.

[00:03:05] And this is the verse we want to zero in on. Just an amazing piece of scripture, John. Chapter one, verse 14. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

[00:03:18] And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the father full of grace and truth. Here's an amazing thing that Jesus is the creator, that he's God. And then he sends his life and his light into the world, which can transform us. But now we get even down to the fact that the God who made us the creator became his creation.

[00:03:46] And he put on flesh.

[00:03:49] And really now in this, if you jump down to verse 16, look at what it says from four, from his fullness, from the fullness of him and God becoming man, we have all received grace upon grace, for the law was given through Moses.

[00:04:05] But Grace, in truth, came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God.

[00:04:10] The only God who is at the father's side. He has made him known.

[00:04:17] And so something has happened that's beyond our comprehension that God has revealed himself by becoming a man, so that now you and I can know God in a new way that no one would have ever even seen coming in the Old Testament. This relationship that we can have with God is so intimate and real now as it's presented to us through Jesus Christ. And that's what we're going to get into tonight. But I just got to pause. We got to pray right now because this is really what we've been building towards that you could see Jesus not only as God, but as God who became man and offers you a life that you would receive from him.

[00:04:58] So we need to break as I need help. You understand what this is saying in the full power of it. And you need to make sure that you have really received the life that is being offered to you in this passage.

[00:05:09] So please pray with me as we get into God's word here this evening. We come to you and we just know that we are so inadequate that we are so incompetent. Of revealing your glory, and there is only one who could show us who you really are. And God, we're thankful for this truth that you revealed yourself to us. That you were manifest through your son, Jesus Christ, who has always been with you eternally as God, but then entered into time. And became man and gal, we pray that you will use your word, that you will speak through me, that you will make the awesome truth of the incarnation real to everyone here tonight and God that everyone here that they will leave here in their hearts knowing. Whether they have received the gift of Jesus Christ and whether they now have a relationship with you. Or whether they still can't really see the glory that is Jesus and how he shows us who you are. And so, God, please help me now in the preaching of your word. Please help everyone here. Thank you for bringing them here tonight and help them in the receiving of your word. Even more importantly than the receiving of this sermon, the receiving of your son, Jesus Christ, who is our life and in whose name we pray. And everyone said a man.

[00:06:34] So I said something the other night.

[00:06:36] And right when I said it, I had some people look up at me like, well, that was confusing. So let me just clarify what I said. I said that it's very important that we don't think Jesus Christ was born gay. Now I know the birth of Jesus Christ is kind of a big deal. There's a whole day that centers around it, really. It dominates a whole month. It's called Christmas. Anybody ever heard of that before? Kind of a big deal coming quick. Right.

[00:06:59] Christmas. Jesus Christ was born now. Well, let's go back to Colossians one real quick and let's just review what we were trying to say about the DHT of Christ the other night, that there was no point in eternity past where Jesus Christ came into being. It's very important that everyone here understands that Jesus is God has always been God. That when the world was created, Jesus was already there and a perfect relationship with the father. And Jesus is the one who created the world. And Colossians one clearly tells us, and we were talking about how the Jehovah's Witnesses have twisted this and they've tried to say that that Jesus was the first thing that God created. Look at it. Cloche in chapter one, verse 15 says that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He's the first born of all creation by him. All things were created in heaven and on earth, visible, invisible, whether throne's or Dominion's rulers or authorities. And it's gonna go on from there. All things were created through him. And for him, it's holding up this glorious view of Jesus Christ as God there in Genesis one, creating all things. And the job as witnesses, if they knock on your door, they will try to tell you that when it says Jesus is the first born here, that that means in the beginning, God created Jesus. Jesus was the first creation. And I hope everybody here would totally reject that Jesus was ever created or that he was ever born in the sense that there was no Jesus. And then all of a sudden, Jesus became, are you guys all with me on that? Nod your head with me. We don't believe that here at this church. We reject that as one percent, 100 percent heresy. Heresy that we send you to hell if you're Jesus. There was a time that Jesus didn't exist. Then you don't believe in the real Jesus. That's what Colossians want is trying to say. So I said, we got to make it clear that Jesus was never born. And what I meant was he was never born in the sense of before creation, the first thing made who made everything else. But here's what's amazing. The one who gave birth to everything else.

[00:09:09] The one who spoke everything else into existence. He then actually is born into his own creation.

[00:09:20] I mean, this is the ultimate plot twist of all time. This is the ultimate if we can really see Jesus high and lift it up and all of his glory, that he would humble himself. To become one of the creatures that he has made, that is one of the most mind blowing truths. In fact, it's so mind blowing that has so many people, I've had a hard time believing it for hundreds of years on this planet that God could become a man.

[00:09:49] It's been tough pill for a lot of people to swallow, so go back to John Chapter one, and that is totally what we are going to get into tonight is the word became flesh, this expression of God, who was with God, who was God, who created all things.

[00:10:06] Now, some time how takes the form of a baby, literally the one who's forming us in our mother's wombs enters into a mother's womb himself.

[00:10:21] That's the idea. And in Matthew, we get the geneology that leads to the birth of Jesus in Luke, we get the biography of the birth of Jesus. But hear what John gives us as he gives us the theology of the birth of Jesus and everybody here. You are a theologian. Did you know that about yourself? You are. Let's just get this down before we get into the points or anything. Theology, we know, is the study of God or the knowledge of God. OK, and everybody here, you have a way that you think about God and all theology. One of the verses that you really have to wrestle with is this verse where it says that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. It Tabernacles. Here with us, it was with us for a while, like it lived in a tent and I saw it. We saw Johnny speaking on behalf of the disciples. But John is going to sometimes interject himself as an eyewitness. I saw it and I saw his glory. And let me tell you that the glory I saw in the God man Jesus, it was full of grace and truth. It was from God himself. What we're talking about here. An important part of theology is the incarnation, if you want to write that down. Everyone should be able to explain if you're a Christian person, you should be able to explain what the incarnation is. This is God becoming man, God in human flesh, remaining what he was one hundred percent God full divinity here. But yet he became what he was not and he became one hundred percent man, completely human. And we're gonna get the three contradictions tonight. Three things about God that might seem like how can those two things go together? And here's our first one. How can you be God and man at the same time, one of the great mysteries that's now been revealed that, hey, I can't explain it to you, but this is what the scripture testifies to.

[00:12:16] Jesus Christ. Keep your finger here. And John 114 and turn with me to first Timothy, chapter three. We're coming right back to John, Chapter one. But here in First Timothy, we kind of get a song, a hymn, some kind of poem from the early church. And they say, great, indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness.

[00:12:38] And when Paul uses the word mystery, he often means something they wouldn't have understood in the Old Testament. That's now been revealed to us in the New Testament. And here's this this song, this poem, this hymn that they have about Jesus Christ. This is first Timothy, three 16 in verse page 992. If you got one of our Bibles here tonight, it says he was manifested. He was revealed. He was shown to us. God in the flesh. That's the incarnation vindicated by the spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. Here's a little 1st century hymn of the church, and it starts with. Here's the truth that maybe is the most difficult truth. The truth about Jesus that all other truths come from.

[00:13:29] He can't die for your sin. He can't rise again to give you new life. None of it else can be true. If God didn't become man.

[00:13:38] And this is maybe perhaps out of the whole gospel message. The thing that people might struggle with the most, or at least something that people have struggled with throughout history, is how does God become a man? And it's a very hard thing and it's a mystery. It's not a sure like Sherlock Holmes kind of mystery. It's not a CSI kind of mystery. It's not like if we put all the clues together, we'll be able to figure out. No, it's a mystery of godliness. It's a profound mystery. It's the kind of thing that you and I, we could sit around and we could talk about and we could pray about and we could sing about. And for all or eternity, we could worship God about. And we'll never fully comprehend that God, man.

[00:14:16] Jesus Christ. It's beyond us.

[00:14:20] It's an amazing thing that happens that the word of God became flesh and he dwelt among us. And John is writing this to us as go back to Geor 114 now.

[00:14:31] And he's writing this to us as an eye witness. And he's trying to say to us here, using this profound language, I saw God in the man, Jesus Christ. That's what he's telling you. And if you saw Jesus, this is what you would think, OK? That was a couple of ways you can study theology. And I want to encourage everybody here that you are a fee, a low, Jane.

[00:14:56] Okay. Unfortunately, we've kind of made it like some people, like pastors. They're going to really get into understanding God and the rest of us. I don't know how much we're gonna get into it. That's a bunch of nonsense. We want to encourage everybody here at CompassHB Bible Church that you need to take knowing God seriously. Eternal life is a relationship with God that you have. So you're a theologian. And so one way we encourage you to study theology. We've got these books in our book, No Cure. If you want to write down the titles or we recommend them on the back of your hand. A systematic theology if you want to write that down. Systematic theology is one way that you can study theology. And this is kind of a way where you pick a topic and and they have a way of laying out kind of all the possible topics you can give even get into. And so, like in this study, you would search this book. It's not really a book meant to be read from the beginning to end. It's more like you have a topic and you get into it. So you would look up the incarnation and it would basically give you all the passages all over Scripture that talk about either Jesus being God or Jesus being man. And he would try to start to explain to you the mystery of how God could become man. So that's one way you can dove into a deeper, systematic theology. You start the topic of the incarnation, the Godman. Now, there's another way that I really enjoy studying theology, and that's biblical theology and biblical theology.

[00:16:21] As you try to figure out what's the main theme of the whole Bible, what's instead about getting down into the details of systematic theology, the stays big picture. And it might be like if you had to summarize the main theme of the Bible, well, what would you say?

[00:16:37] What is the story all about?

[00:16:39] And I think that, John, he's giving us some references here and John, 114 as to what he thinks the story is all about. When he says that the word became flesh and dwelt among us or, oh, intented among us, tabernacles among us, and we've seen his glory. And when John picks one thing to describe the glory of God, he says it's full of. Do you see this with me? Shout it out if you if you can read it here. It's full of what? Grace and truth. Now, if you had to pick one thing to describe God and I saw the glory and here's what it was like, is the first thing that would come to your mind to describe the glory of God, the grace and truth of God.

[00:17:22] Why those two attributes? Why them together like that?

[00:17:26] I think what John is revealing to us is, is he's actually making a reference to the Book of Exodus here. And I think he's going back to what he thinks the big theme is. If he's practicing, what I would say is biblical theology, go to Exodus, Chapter 33. And there's some allusions here. And when you read the commentaries on John that I think the best scholars are always going to take you back to Exodus 33 and 34, as this is what John is using this language here in Exodus to present to you who God is. And when he wants to tell you that Jesus is God, he refers to these passages here specifically. And so there's this book that we recommend here at the church. We've got a few in the book Nook. I think it's almost sold out. It's called God's Glory in Salvation Through Judgment. And it's written by a professor named Dr. James Hamilton.

[00:18:23] And he's writing this book and he's saying, if I had to tell you the big theme of the whole Bible, well, I would tell you the point of the whole book is that we would see the glory of God. And here's how we see the glory of God, that God is a God who judges and through his judgment, he saves.

[00:18:42] And another way you could say that essentially is that if you want to see the glory of God. Here's what it looks like, that he is one hundred percent full of grace and truth at the exact same time.

[00:18:54] He's saving people and judging people. People are going to heaven. And people are going to hell. This is what the glory of God looks like in all of his attributes.

[00:19:05] Now we've come to Exodus Chapter 33 and look with me here in verse seven where it says there's this tent of meeting here. And really what God has instructed Moses to do is to build a tabernacle. And this is before it fully gets built. Well, look what happens in Exodus 33, verse seven. Now, Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far from the camp. He sets up this special tent and he called it the tent of meeting.

[00:19:35] And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. But whenever Moses went out to the tent. This is amazing picture. Here goes Moses to talk to God in this tent. All the people would rise up and each would stand at his tent door and they would watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. Can you imagine that all the tents of the whole nation of Israel, all the people that got delivered out of Egypt in the wilderness, all standing at their tents, watching Moses walk outside of the camp until he goes into this tent to talk with God? And when Moses entered the tent, verse nine, the pillar of cloud would descend and it would stand at the entrance of tent, this pillar of cloud representing the glory or the presence of God. It would descend and it would stand at the entrance of the tent and the Lord would speak with Moses. So here's the way that God related to his people. Now, if you've read here the story of the Ten Commandments in Exodus, if you've ever read this before, God wanted to speak straight to the people and they came up to the mountain that no one could touch or they would die. And there was thunder and lightning and God spoke to the people. And if you know the story, you know what happened is the people literally they freaked out and they went to Moses and they said, hey, Moses, we don't want to hear from God.

[00:20:54] It's just flat out too scary, too frightening, too terrifying. Why don't you go talk to him for us and then you just tell us what he said. And so that's kind of the dynamic now here. The way that God is relating to his people is through this tent of meeting with Moses and verse eleven says thus, the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend.

[00:21:19] So Moses and God, it gives us here they have a conversation where God, because of the sin of the people, says, I'm just going to send you guys ahead without me. And Moses says, no, you have to go with us. And they have a conversation that goes back and forth. And finally, Moses shouts out, Show me your glory.

[00:21:37] Now, God says, well, you can't see my glory because no man can see me and live, everybody who sees God in the Bible, they immediately fall on their face like a dead person is. Glory is so overwhelming. That you can't even handle it. He's saying, but what I'll do, Moses, is I'll set you up or hide you. You'll get a glimpse of my glory as I pass by. And I'll tell you who I am. So turn with me to what I believe is one of the most pass, more important passages in all of the Bible. Exodus 34. Six and seven. This is what I think John is referring to when he says Fall of grace, in truth. Hey, you want to know that Jesus is really God? Well, he's also full of grace and truth. And here in Exodus 34, verse six, the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, Here's God, introducing himself to Moses, showing his glory to Moses. And here's what he says. Who is the Lord? The Lord God. Merciful and gracious. Slow to anger and abounding in.

[00:22:38] Now, here it is, steadfast love and faithfulness. Keeping steadfast love for thousands. Forgiving inequity and transgression and sin.

[00:22:50] But who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children. To the third and the fourth generation. And Moses, when he heard this, quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped, overwhelmed by the glory of God. So when God wants to tell you who he is and now John wants to tell you that Jesus is the full manifestation of the father. Here's what they both go for. God says, I have steadfast love and faithfulness. John says it in different words in the Greek language. I have grace and true. Here's something about God. He wants to forgive sinners. God wants to save people, his love, his grace, his mercy, his patience. He delights in forgiving people of their sin and bringing them into a relationship with him. And yet, at the same time, because of his justice, because of his truth, because he will always do what he has said he is going to do because of his righteous wrath against sin. God is not going to let people just pass Sorensen. He must judge it. In fact, he will judge it to your kids. He'll judge it to your grandkids. He'll judge it to your great grandkids. That's what it says right there, that God is 100 percent. Here we get now to our second contradiction. That might seem like two opposing forces. But in God, they meet beautifully together. God is one hundred percent full of grace, mercy, forgiveness, ready to offer you a clean slate and a second chance. And truth. Faithfulness. Justice. He will punish you for what you have done. That's how it reveals himself here.

[00:24:32] And now John taps into the.

[00:24:36] I mean, is this how you think of God when you think of God, the glory of God, when God comes to your mind? Do you see a God who is full of grace and who is full of truth because God is so miseries misrepresented by people like us?

[00:24:54] I've met a God who is all love. Have you met that God on the streets of Huntington Beach?

[00:24:59] Lot of people talking about a God who had. Yeah, if you're insane here tonight and you're not doing what God wants you to do. Hey, don't really worry about it because God's grace is in ocean and we're just all sinking in and God's just going to make everything cool. Have you heard about that kind of God? I've also been at some places and I've heard about a God who is really angry and he's really kind of come after you. And if you don't do this and this and this and this, and if you don't do everything perfectly well, then the righteous wrath of God will smote you, you miserable wretch in use.

[00:25:33] I mean, to find a place where you can hear about God and it can be presented to you in the most loving terms, like he wants to save your soul right now, but then also that he will judge sin and no one's getting away with it. To meet a God who's full of grace and truth is very difficult in our day and age, say.

[00:25:53] To meet a God who's both of them all of the time say. Who embodies grace and truth? Perfectly. That's Jesus Christ.

[00:26:04] John wants to say, I saw the glory and here's what Gore glory looks like. This guy, he was 100 percent grace and he was 100 percent truth. He was like God told Moses he was God.

[00:26:20] Is that how you think about God? And then the second question I want to ask you is, is that how you're talking about God to the people you're trying to tell about God in your life?

[00:26:31] Like, if your kids had to evaluate you. Right. Do you let things go too much? Are you too much of a permissive, gracious parent? Or are you like all about the truth at your house? Right. The boot camp you're running out. Oh, right.

[00:26:46] Now, this is this is something I want everybody to think about, if you are supposed to be one of God's people and God is a God full of grace and truth. How are you doing at representing Grace and truth together? A lot of people that I've met, a lot of people that I've talked to, and they can really represent one of those things, but by only representing one of those things, they are really misrepresenting who God is. And I have a feeling that if we were to ask here tonight if we were to take a survey, if we could ask the people who know you best, even if you could be honest with yourself, right now, we've got some people who get fired up about the truth of God here tonight. And we've got some people who get fired up about the grace of God here tonight. But I want to know who gets fired up about both of them, say. That's that's real maturity. That's real knowledge of God. Those are the people who really know the glory of the Lord is those who see him as he's revealed himself, steadfast love and faithfulness. I'm ready to forgive you, but I'm also going to be true to my word and hold you accountable for what you have done. God's glory in salvation, through judgment. That's really the theme. So which one are you on right now? Right now. Are you are you all about representing God's grace or are you all about representing God's truth? Where can you say that God's matured you that you've gotten to know him, that you've seen him for who you are and you represent a God who is full of grace and truth, go back to John one, because this is what John wanted us to know. Hey, I know there's the tabernacle where God's glory came down in a cloud. And it's such a beautiful picture because if you could see the glory of God, we would all fall down. The thunder, the lightning that freaked the Israelites out. So God covering himself with a cloud. Well, it's a representation of his presence, yet not his full unveiled glory.

[00:28:41] That's exactly what Jesus does. Jesus comes. But instead of blowing us away with his unveiled glory, that's the Book of Revelation that's still coming. He puts on the tent that he puts on is flesh.

[00:28:54] And so if you just saw Jesus, just like if you saw the cloud, you could look at the cloud, you could handle the cloud. If you saw Jesus God become man, you could look at Jesus, you could handle Jesus. But you would also realize that in that flesh was the glory of God. And here's what it looked like.

[00:29:10] John says it looked like grace. And it looked like truth. And if you think I'm stretching it with this X, it is stuff. We'll look back at John Wayne and look what it says in verse 17. I mean, John's clearly thinking about Moses. It says, for the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. God could explain to Moses who he was, but now he's shown us in a whole new way. Who he is through his son in verse 16. Four from his fullness. We have all received grace upon Grace. What a beautiful verse, because that means that there's glory that's coming in Jesus Christ.

[00:29:47] This grace and truth that Jesus is bringing from God to us is something that we can receive. My friends that you and I can have the life of God manifested in Jesus Christ, that we can now have this life that God gives to us by grace, to all of the passages that we looked at on Tuesday night.

[00:30:08] If you were here telling us that Jesus is God, they're all going to go on to describe to us Jesus, his man, Jesus putting on flesh. And Jesus came on to seek and save mission for your soul so that you could have the life of God go to Hebrews. We started in Hebrews Chapter one that God has spoken to us. In the old day, the word came to the prophets. But now the word comes through the son. Jesus himself is the word of the Lord. The expression of God, too, was. And so that's what we looked at last night, that Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God. We'll go to Chapter two now and jump down the verse 14 and watch how it transitions from the deity of Jesus being God to now a description of Jesus as man.

[00:30:57] Just like the pattern and John, one we also see here in Hebrews two, since therefore this is Hebrews two 14.

[00:31:05] Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood. He himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death. That is the devil.

[00:31:20] So when Jesus came to share in flesh and blood and to become a human like us, the point of Jesus living as a human was that he might die. That's what it tells us here.

[00:31:32] And when Jesus died through death, he destroyed the one who has the power of death. That is the devil. And he delivered all those who, through fear of death, were subject to life long slavery.

[00:31:47] So you and I, if we're saved here tonight, there was a time where we were afraid of dying, anybody relate to the fear of death? Anybody remember those days?

[00:31:57] My kids are still living in those days. Ever seen ever seen when a kid is so afraid that they are literally paralyzed if you ever had one of those moments. Right. Like my son, Jack, sometimes all he can do is three years old, sometimes all he can do is just shout Bug. And then you just stay still. Right. And you have to run over and see what's going on. And there's like a grasshopper bouncing around in the in the backyard. And he is literally like, I'm not moving because he's so over it. Like the grasshopper is going to end him is basically where he's at. Right. I mean, that's just a silly example. Well, we know what it's like to be afraid of death.

[00:32:36] See, here's the thing, the life that Jesus took on. It's not just something that I'm trying to tell you to believe tonight, that 2000 years ago God became a man. That's why we celebrate Christmas. And. And we should all acknowledge the incarnation as a as a fact.

[00:32:51] I'm trying to say that when Jesus became flesh, the offer of the life of God is now made to all flesh. He's a bridge from the eternity into time. He's a he's a bridge from the divine to the human that you can now experience something through Jesus Christ that before was never experienced. We all know what it is to be afraid to die. You don't have to experience that because Jesus already died for you, because the life of Jesus overcomes death. Man Pastor Mike was talking about Jesus Christ saying I'm the resurrection and the life when he raised up Lazarus. Anybody here last night? What were you getting into that? I was like, man, I cannot wait till we get to that passage. So my goal is that by Easter, we'll be at John 11 will on Easter Sunday. This year, we'll hear Jesus say I'm the resurrection and the life. Does that sound good to anybody?

[00:33:43] That's where we're that's where we're headed. Right. I mean, I'm bringing a quality of life to humanity now that I'm changing the end game. The ultimate game changer right here. Death is no longer a problem for you.

[00:33:56] If you have the life of Jesus Christ, that's what he's saying.

[00:34:01] Go to Colossians one. We looked at the duty of Christ in Colossians one. I mean, John one. Hebrews one. Colossians one. The three passages that make it so clear that Jesus is God. And then if you continue in all of those books, they make it clear that God became flesh. And Colossians says in a bunch of different times. Let's go into chapter two. Verse nine. Look at Colossians. Chapter two. Verse nine says four. In him, we're talking about Christ Jesus. The man who walked on the earth who he said was God in him.

[00:34:36] The whole fullness of deity dwells bodily like you couldn't have it said more clearly than that.

[00:34:43] We have God in a body, is what he is saying.

[00:34:47] And now you have been filled in him. Now that life of God becoming man. Now that goes to you.

[00:34:57] And he is the head of all rule and authority in him.

[00:35:00] You also were circumcised with the circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead. And you who were dead in your Trest passes and the UN circumcision of your flesh, your old life God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside mailing it to the cross.

[00:35:37] So when we talk about the incarnation, when we talk about Jesus Christ becoming man and the life of God now entering humanity, it's saying that you can experience this life. It saying that you can die to your old life when you were dead in sin the way you used to walk and that you can rise again, you can be made alive. You can be raised within so that you're sin has once and for all been paid for on that cross and that you now have a new fullness of life, the life of God in you.

[00:36:11] I'm not trying to tell you believe that Jesus became a man two thousand years ago, that he died and rose again. I'm trying to tell you, do you have the life of God in you tonight through Jesus Christ?

[00:36:23] That's what it's saying here.

[00:36:26] That once and for all scene was paid for so that you don't have to live in it anymore. And you can now have this supernatural kind of life in God. Go to second Peter, chapter one. Here's just a great way that it says it.

[00:36:41] Second, Peter, chapter one. It says the second Peter.

[00:36:46] Chapter one, verse three. If this verses is something that, you know, if you haven't ever heard this or memorized it. If this is something everybody here needs to hear that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his wait for it own glory and excellence. That there is a divine power that has given now to you everything you need for life, everything you need for godliness that would, you know, Jesus Christ, when you have this eternal life. You are called to his own. What does it say there to his own? What, that you are now a participant in the glory of God himself through Jesus Christ.

[00:37:34] This is amazing stuff that we're talking about here.

[00:37:37] The life that came from God in Jesus is now offered to you here tonight that you can have this life that is full of grace and truth, full of the power of God himself. And it will then change the way that you live and you will start to live in a godly way so much that people will even say that you are a man or a woman or a young person of God because you would have the life of God.

[00:38:01] And you go to first. Peter, chapter two. First Peter, Chapter two. And it describes this transformation. When we come from the darkness into the light, when we get this relationship with God, first Peter to verse nine, it says, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. And here's the point.

[00:38:27] Here's where we're going, that you may proclaim the excellencies the glories of him. Who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

[00:38:38] Remember when you were not a people. But now you are God's people. Remember when you had not received mercy. But now you have received mercy. So you should be able to proclaim the Excellency's the glories, you should be able to let the world know that I have the life of God in me through Jesus Christ. Can I get a man from anybody here tonight? OK, so point number one, you need to praise Jesus as your savior. You need to praise him as the one who is giving you eternal life. We are supposed to be not only experiencers of the life divine, but Proclaimers of the Excellency's, of the one who saved us, bringing us out of the darkness and into the light, bringing us once when we didn't have a relationship with him. And now we do have a relationship with him. There was Premer, see. And now there's after mercy and it changes everything about us so that we are telling the world, our friends, our family, our coworkers, our neighbors, that the life of Jesus Christ is a reality in me.

[00:39:43] That's what we're saying to the.

[00:39:46] We proclaim the excellencies of Jesus Christ, the incarnation is not only a doctrine that we affirm, but it's something that we actually know as we have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

[00:40:00] We believe that he is God became man and he brought a relationship with God to us. And it changes our experience as human beings that we know the divine, that we have his power working in us. His glory. He's called us to.

[00:40:15] Do you believe the.

[00:40:17] Do you consider yourself a normal human? Or do you believe that you have entered into a relationship with the divine God of the universe through Jesus Christ, who brought that life to us? He came from outside of time in eternity, and he entered into our space so that you could have eternal life. Now, that's what we're here to talk about. The word became flesh. We saw the glory, the glory of the face of truth, and now we've all received from that fullness grace upon grace. And I think what he's saying when I was there was a gracious way that God dealt with the people of Israel in the Old Testament. But now there is a grace upon that grace, how he deals with us, that we have a relationship with him through his son. And we can see the glory of God.

[00:41:04] Can you see the glory of God? Do you have the life that I'm talking about? Or is this just an idea to you? It's just a concept.

[00:41:14] Go back to John Chapter one, because now we've got a glimpse into the theology here of what it's trying to say to us about the glory of God and what that might look like. Even in our lives, if we've experienced it, we have here in the Gospel of John.

[00:41:31] And in between the the word the creator and the word savior, we have how we're supposed to respond to God. This is the first time in the gospel that he's going to talk about our response to God. Your response? Verse nine of John. Chapter one, The True Light, which gives light to everyone was coming into the world. Here comes Jesus now entering the world. And he was in the world. Here's where the amazing thing the world was made through him. Yet when he came into the world, the world did not know him. They didn't recognize their own creator. He came to his own, his own people, I believe, referring specifically to the nation of Israel. And they did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name.

[00:42:19] 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.

[00:42:31] And so it says here there's there's two different reactions that are going to happen as we present Jesus Christ, as we invite everyone in Huntington Beach and all the cities around here to come and see Jesus Christ. We're just kicking it off. We're gonna be doing this for a long time. And any Sunday, if you can get people here to come and see. Well, there's two possible ways that people are going to respond based on what John saying here. Here comes the light into the world. Here comes the life to all of men. It's offering the eternal life of God to us. In some people. They're not going to receive this life.

[00:43:07] They're not going to recognize it for what it is.

[00:43:09] And others, it says they will receive it. They'll receive it by faith. They'll believe in Jesus. And then it says this amazing thing that he will give them the right to become children of God, that we will enter into this relationship where not only do we know him, it's like we're one of his kids. It's like we're made like him. We share his life. What an amazing statement.

[00:43:34] What we're seeing here is the story of Christmas is about a gift that's given, it's the life of God becoming to men in the form of Jesus Christ, the one who shows us the glory of God. And it's a life that's offered to you.

[00:43:47] And the question is, will you receive the gift of life in Jesus Christ or will you reject it like the people of Israel did back in the day when they put Jesus on the cross? OK.

[00:43:58] Now, if you were here last night, we had a fun moment with Pastor Mike because it was really his vision for us to plant the church. And now we've been around for one year and here he is. So we wanted to thank him. And so what did we do last night? If we were if we were here, what do we give? Pastor Mike, I think we got the picture of it right here.

[00:44:15] We gave him the trophy from the Fourth of July parade. Right. That was the greatest possession we have here at this church so far. And so we offered it to him. Best thing we've done so far. Right.

[00:44:25] And you could see by the look on his face, he's kind of like, I don't know about this leg.

[00:44:29] You're really giving me this trophy. I didn't win this trophy. All right. Feels a little awkward. I mean, he has a choice right there, even afterwards. He basically came up to me and he was like, so am I really taking this thing home? I mean, what's go what's going on here? You know, like this is a little bit interesting because I didn't earn this. This isn't mine. See, I didn't really. This is a gift that's being given in. You have a choice of whether to receive the gift or not. You'll be happy to know he took it home with him. So the story ends well. But see.

[00:44:58] They were being offered something near. In the life of God.

[00:45:06] That's some people, it's just really what we're being offered is so good that some people aren't even going to believe that it's true. So people are just going to have a hard time even comprehending a life beyond the fear of death and everything that we've experienced in our fallen sinful world that we could experience in the life divine and be called to his glory and become a part of the grace and truth of of God and experiences forgiveness like that just. It seems hard for many people to believe it's too good to be true.

[00:45:37] Or other people, they might. I mean, I don't know if you've ever tried to offer people gifts and they flat out refused your gift, is that ever, ever happen to anybody here? Like you're trying to give someone some thing and they literally will not take it from you? Maybe some of you guys are these people like what's what's your problem in Otomi? But it's like, I don't need this. Like, there's this thing that kicks in where it's like I don't want to receive a gift because that would admit that I have a great need, that I'm not capable in and of myself, that I didn't earn it on my own. And there's kind of this pride, this arrogance, this like I've got everything I need for myself kind of a thing. And people just literally will not receive gifts because they're fine as they are.

[00:46:20] So.

[00:46:22] And so people, many people we know, will reject the free gift of eternal life that is offered to them. Jesus live the perfect life for the.

[00:46:33] I mean, you want to talk about fullness of grace and truth. Let's talk about Jesus Christ. Up on the cross. The moment where mercy and justice kissed each other in all of history. The moment where God pours out his wrath and his judgment forcing because it must be paid for. There must be death. There must be consequences for sin. And he pours it out on his own son in the most awesome act of love ever known.

[00:47:04] That his son would take the wrath for our sin. By his grace, by his mercy. So it's full of grace dying for us. But truth still having to die because of our sin.

[00:47:22] And we would offer that to people.

[00:47:24] We would say, hey, if you'll come to Jesus Christ, man, if you will just receive this gift, you will have eternal life. And yet so many people, they will reject that gift. I mean, that's just heartbreak. If you can see how awesome the gift is and how it's being offered freely. See, that should just totally break your heart. Why would anyone reject the gift here? But the truth is, some people even here tonight, as I'm talking about this life that we have in Jesus, there are some of you that cannot see it.

[00:47:58] You just can't see the gift when it's right in front of you. Go to Second Corinthians, Chapter four, and it describes it here perfectly that we're blind to the gift or blind because of our own pride.

[00:48:12] We're blind because of our unbelief. We're blind. To the life that's right in front of us that's being offered through Jesus Christ. And here in Second Corinthians, Chapter four, it says that our gospel, this good news of life in Jesus Christ, that he's God who became a man who lived a perfect life and died in your place so that you could get this new life and rise with him for all of eternity, that you could know God and experience his glory. Well, that's the gospel. Even if our gospel is veiled, there's people who can't see it. Well, it's veiled to those who right now are perishing. They don't know God. They don't have eternal life. And in their case, the God of this world, who is the God of this world? Anybody know who that is? Satan. And he's man. He's making it happen in this world right now.

[00:49:00] He's blinded the minds of the unbelievers. They can't even see Jesus for who he is. He keeps them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. So now we're starting to get to it for what we proclaim the excellences that we're out there proclaiming the glories of the one who saved us, the praise that we're constantly offering of Jesus. It's not our ourselves. No, we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves. We're just servants, for Jesus sake, for God who said let light shine out of darkness. He's shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. And we see it in the face of Jesus Christ.

[00:49:45] The only reason that anybody here is safe. The only reason that any of us can receive the gift is just like God said, let there be light. Just like Jesus said when he created the world, let there be light and there was light. He now said to you in your heart. Let there be light. And you opened your eyes that you could see the glory of God and Jesus Christ.

[00:50:03] Can you see it here tonight? Who can see it? What I'm talking about, something that happens with your eyeballs.

[00:50:10] We're talking about something that happens in your hearts when a light shines. And you know God and the way that you see God. Here's what he looks like every single time.

[00:50:19] Jesus. That's what he looks like.

[00:50:22] And you see him full of grace and truth. You see him hanging up there on that cross suffering. The hell that you deserved so you could have the heaven that he gave to you.

[00:50:34] And some of you guys, you can't see that.

[00:50:37] And you need to ask God tonight before you leave this place to open your eyes to really see Jesus Christ.

[00:50:46] I go back to John Chapter one, and it's going to give us are our third contradiction here tonight without as Jesus God and man. Well, that's that's the mystery of godliness. How can you be full of grace and truth? How can you be 100 percent both of them all of the time? Well, that's how God is. We'll here's our third contradiction. Look at verse 12 and 13.

[00:51:08] But to all who did receive him, these are the people who can see. These are the people who see the glory of Jesus and they worship him. They believed in his name. And now they've entered into a relationship with him, they've become children of God. They know the father through the son.

[00:51:25] But look, here's the contradiction, verse 13.

[00:51:28] They were born not of blood, nor of the will, nor of the flesh.

[00:51:33] They didn't just want to all of a sudden see it. They couldn't just all of a sudden see it by their own strength in the flesh. That wasn't just something they intended to do the will of man.

[00:51:41] They were born of what is to say there, but of God. See?

[00:51:46] So here's the contradiction we're gonna get to. Throughout the gospel of John. It's going to be Godsell of the world. He gave his only son. All you gotta do, whoever believes in him, you stop perishing, your eyes are open and you get that eternal life. You get that knowledge of God. Right. But then you got to back it up and it's got to be will. Only those who are born again can enter the kingdom of heaven.

[00:52:09] So here it says it's a free gift. Receive it. Believe in Jesus name and you'll enter into a relationship with God tonight.

[00:52:16] But you can't really do it. Nobody can do it. Nobody here of the flesh or of man can do it. Only God can really give you the gift is here.

[00:52:24] It seems like a contradiction. You see, a lot of people stumble over this and they end up on either extreme. But it's saying clearly here that there's only one way you're ever going to believe in Jesus is that God enables you to believe in Jesus. He causes you of his will to believe in Jesus. So believe in Jesus. That's what I'd say.

[00:52:47] It's a call and it seems like a contradiction. But here's what you need to do. If you can't see, ask God to open your eyes and get that down.

[00:52:54] Four point number two, there are people who can't see Jesus in this room and they know it as we're talking about it here tonight. We talk about not having a fear of death. We talk about dying to your old life of sin and rising again to a new life. And Jesus we talk about proclaiming the excellences of God and having his power, bringing us everything we need for life and godliness, this eternal quality of life where we know God in the fullness of his grace and truth. And as I'm describing it, some people in your hearts, sometimes with your voices, but mostly in your hearts here at this church. So far, so of you guys are saying a man. Anybody saying a man to this eternal life or to some you guys aren't saying it.

[00:53:34] And if he can't say you need to ask God tonight a God, I know that only you can save me. So save me. I put my faith in Jesus Christ. I want this life that we're talking about here at this church.

[00:53:51] You come to God, you trust that Jesus is the God who became man and that he offers you the life of the father. You put your trust in him and God answers that prayer. You know, there's a promise in the scripture that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be one. What does it say? Every single one.

[00:54:10] No one's ever come out to God begging for salvation, to offering to turn from their sin and put their faith in Jesus Christ and God says, yeah, I'm not really interested in saving. You know, the whole point of everything is that you would know the glory of God because he is interested in saving the world.

[00:54:28] That's why he sent his son. And he wants you to know the life.

[00:54:35] And John saw it and John wrote it down so that two thousand years later, we could be here on a Thursday night talking about this life that Jesus Christ brought to all of us. And do you have it here tonight?

[00:54:51] Look back at Second Corinthians, chapter four, verse six. And look what it says here, that the light of God. I just want you to end on this verse. If you're thinking, man, I would really like to have this life. I'd really like to know God.

[00:55:07] I'd really like to experience this grace and truth that you're saying he has.

[00:55:14] Well, it says the God who said let light shine out of darkness has shown in our hearts and ask God to shine into your heart, to open the eyes of your heart, to give light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

[00:55:29] If you can't see Jesus here tonight. And don't leave your blind. Admit it. Ask somebody else to help you.

[00:55:40] Ask God to open your eyes ahead. I got a text message at nine 946 on Sunday night after we talked about what it really meant to have eternal life and to have a relationship with God.

[00:55:51] I had a guy here at the church and he text messaged me and he said, will you please help me know what it is to believe in Jesus Christ?

[00:56:00] I want to have that life. No one has ever sat down with me and explained to me what it is to really have life. Those are the kind of texts I love receiving. All right. I don't care what these like. I was worried if it was too late to text you, like too late to text me that you want to have life in Jesus. That does. That's not. It is impossible. OK. That's always a good text. And so we sat down and we talked about. And the guy had a lot of concerns. He says, you know, when I come to church sometimes, you know, I go to a home fellowship group at the church or I hear the sermon of the church or I try to do the Bible reading that you guys and. Sure, encourage me to do. You know, I just don't really relate to a lot of it. And it's really hard for me to to really get something out of it sometimes, and I'm like, well, of course it's hard for you to get something out of it. You don't have the life of God in you. I mean, how are you going to get something out of it if you're not even alive, if you're dead? You could tell he felt good about that means like, well, I don't want to be one of those people who, you know, they kind of throw something up and then later they bail on it and they fall away. And I'm like, well, those people, they weren't sincere. If God really saves you, you can't fall the way. So that's why it's so important. We're having this conversation. We're doing this right. We're making sure you understand what you're really getting yourself into from the beginning. And you can tell us we're talking he's feeling better and better. And I'm like, but here's the kicker, man. If you want the new wife of God, you've got to be willing to leave your old life behind.

[00:57:34] Like the scene that you live for right now, the way you identify yourself right now.

[00:57:41] If you want the gift, if you want the eternal life of God, you've got to trade it for the one you've got right now. You got to let that one go. And that's where he's kind of you can tell that's where he's really thinking about it right there.

[00:57:54] Am I willing to lose this life, to gain the next.

[00:57:58] That's what he said and I said, you know, it's not even it's not even like that, because not only do you gain eternity in Jesus Christ. No, he came from eternity. He came into time. And he wants to give you that life right now where you're sitting. You don't just get it when you die, you get it. You get eternity now. And that you know God and you start to see him in his glory and you start to even experience a sense of his glory. Now, in your heart that you could see it. It's right there. It's the face of Jesus Christ in front of you.

[00:58:30] And he walked away and you could tell he was thinking whether or not he was going to trade this life, the life of the flesh for the eternal life. What what are you going to decide?

[00:58:42] Are you going to receive the gift?

[00:58:45] Where are you going to keep living here in the flesh and if you have received the gift plan, let's go and let's tell as many people as we possibly can how excellent it is to have eternal life now. And let's give the glory to Jesus. Pray with me, God. Thank you so much. For this awesome passage, God, as we've tried to explain it here tonight, as we've tried to somehow open the eyes of the blind God and tried to just present the truth and trust that you're going to work, that you're going to help people see the glory, your glory in the face of your son, Jesus Christ, who shows us who you are, who manifests your divine nature in human form, a God full of grace and truth, ready to forgive thousands full of mercy and grace and slow to anger, abounding and steadfast love.

[00:59:35] And yet by no means clearing the guilty.

[00:59:38] Also, a God who will make sure that scene is all paid for.

[00:59:43] I God, I just pray that everyone they would know when they leave here tonight. Whether they have your life, the divine life, whether they're experiencing that now or not, God, and that there would be salvation here in this place, as you would give people even tonight, the right to enter a relationship with you, the right to call you father in heaven as they become your children, as they put their faith in Jesus Christ and receive your gift of eternal life. God, let no one leave here tonight rejecting you. And God, for those who of us who have received you. God let us not be caught up in earthly things. Let us not be deceived into thinking that we still have our old life. Let us see the power that we have that we're not afraid of death, that we've risen with Christ.

[01:00:29] And let us proclaim your excellence lies and tell of the glory, as I used to not be one of God's people. But now I have a relationship with him. I used to not know mercy.

[01:00:40] But now I know him, I know Jesus. I see him there on the cross and I see his grace for me that he paid for my sin.

[01:00:50] God, let us just let the world know that it's so sweet to trust in Jesus. It's so much better. It's such a higher quality of life to know you through your son. God, let that be the message of the people in this church. Let them see it in the way that we live. Let them hear it in the way that we sing. Let it be in the stories that we tell of of who Jesus is, as we invite many people to come and see God spread the life of Jesus Christ here in Huntington Beach today and do it through the sky, we pray in Jesus name. Amen.