✨✝️ Watch the whole sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1bBRSMZFFk&t=2208s
✨What Is Truth? The Gospel of John
John 1:14-18 Pastor Daren Mehl Warroad Community Church
Doctrine:
Jesus Christ, the eternal Word and unique Son of God, full of grace and truth, became truly human and made the unseen Father known. From His fullness, all who receive Him are given grace upon grace.
Summary:
Jesus Christ is the eternal Word and the unique Son of God who became truly human, dwelt among us, and made the unseen Father known. John calls us to behold His glory, receive from His inexhaustible fullness, and recognize that grace and truth meet perfectly in Him. The law tells the truth about God’s holiness and our sin, but Jesus fulfilled the law, bore the judgment of sin, and gives saving and transforming grace. Therefore, we come into the light, live by the Holy Spirit, and make Jesus known with a truthful gospel, gracious lives, serving hands, and willing feet.
Behold His glory Receive from His fullness Make Him known
Moses said “Show me Your glory”
John said “We saw His glory”
The answer is Jesus
The Eternal Word Became Flesh
Sermon focus John 1:14-15 Matthew 1:20-23 Hebrews 2:14-17
Jesus did not begin to exist when He was born in Bethlehem. He is the eternal Son of God, and He became a real human being without ceasing to be God. John says He dwelt among us, meaning He came near and lived with His people. The glory that Moses could only see in a guarded way was revealed in Jesus, full of grace and truth. Jesus shared our flesh and blood, obeyed where we disobeyed, bore our sin, died, rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven. We must see Him as more than a baby, teacher, or example. He is Emmanuel, God with us, our Lord and Savior.
The incarnation means that the eternal Son took a complete human nature and became fully God and fully man. John uses the language of the tabernacle to show that God’s glory came to dwell among His people in the person of Christ. Because Jesus truly shared our humanity, He could be our merciful and faithful High Priest, make propitiation and atonement for sin, and bring sinners into God’s presence. Beholding His glory must lead beyond knowing facts about Him. We bow before Him, receive Him as Lord and Savior, and bring our guilt, shame, and helplessness to the One who came near to deliver us from sin and death.
QUESTIONS
- How does the truth that Jesus is the eternal Son who became fully human correct a view of Him as only a teacher or example?
- Am I beholding the real Jesus revealed in Scripture, or am I only carrying facts about Him? What shows the difference in my life?
- What guilt, shame, or helplessness do I need to bring to Jesus, trusting the One who came near to save sinners?
Jesus Is Full of Grace and Truth
Sermon focus John 1:14 Exodus 34:6-7 Psalm 86:15
Grace is God’s free and undeserved favor in Jesus. Truth tells us what is real about God, sin, Jesus, and what He has done. Jesus never separates the two. His grace does not ignore sin, and His truth is not cold or cruel. He forgave sinners, confronted hypocrisy, healed the sick, raised the dead, laid down His life, and rose again. When His truth reveals our sin, we do not have to hide. We can bring that sin into the light and receive His grace to forgive and set us free. Look at Jesus. His glory is full of grace and truth.
Grace and truth are united in the person and work of Christ. Truth declares God’s holiness and righteousness, exposes the death of sin, and tears down our lies. Grace brings guilty sinners near through Christ’s blood and body, gives us His righteousness, and trains us to obey. We distort Christ when we want grace without repentance or speak truth with a hardness that does not resemble His loving kindness. Truth is the foundation, grace brings us into that truth, God’s glory is the goal, and salvation and holiness are the fruit. Therefore, we must confess what is true and carry that truth to others in the grace of our Savior.
QUESTIONS
- Am I more tempted to want grace without Christ’s truth or to speak truth without Christlike grace? Where is that visible?
- What truth from Christ am I resisting because I want to protect a sin or a lie, and what grace does Jesus hold out to me?
- How should the grace and truth of Jesus shape the way I approach someone who is caught in sin or hiding in darkness?
We Receive Grace upon Grace
Sermon focus John 1:16 Titus 2:11-14
Everything necessary for salvation and life is found in Jesus. From His fullness, His people receive forgiveness, righteousness, adoption, the Holy Spirit, grace to obey, and the hope of resurrection. Grace upon grace means that Christ’s supply never runs dry. We never graduate from needing Jesus. His grace pardons us, brings us near to God, teaches us how to live, strengthens us in trials, and will carry us home. Receive from His fullness every day.
Christ possesses an inexhaustible fullness from which believers receive saving and transforming grace. Those united to Him by faith are forgiven, justified, reconciled, adopted, given the Holy Spirit, and progressively made holy through sanctification. This grace produces obedience, endurance, good deeds, and hope while we await resurrection and glorification. Mature discipleship never moves past dependence upon Christ. It rejects self-powered change and continually receives the truth and grace of Jesus through His Word and by His Spirit.
QUESTIONS
- Where am I trying to change myself in my own strength instead of receiving the truth and grace found in Christ’s fullness?
- Which gift named in the sermon, such as forgiveness, righteousness, adoption, the Holy Spirit, obedience, endurance, or resurrection hope, do I especially need to remember today?
- If grace trains us rather than leaving us unchanged, what act of obedience or endurance should His grace produce in me this week?
The Law Points to Christ and the Son Makes Us Free
Sermon focus John 1:17 Matthew 5:17 Romans 8:3-4 John 8:31-36
The law is a good gift because it shows God’s holy standard and tells the truth about our sin. But the law cannot give life, remove our guilt, or give us Christ’s righteousness. It points us to Jesus. He obeyed perfectly, fulfilled the law, and bore its curse on the cross. Jesus does not only tell us that sin enslaves us. He gives hope: if the Son makes us free, we are free indeed. We bring sin into the light, confess what is true, receive His grace, remain in His Word, and walk by the Holy Spirit.
What the law could not do through our sinful flesh, God did by sending His Son. Christ fulfilled the law in perfect obedience, bore its curse, accomplished redemption, and fulfills the new covenant promise by writing God’s law on the hearts of His people. Grace then instructs us to deny ungodliness and become zealous for good deeds. Freedom includes abiding in Christ’s Word, walking by the Spirit, and mortifying sinful desires. It also has a relational shape: we gently restore those caught in sin, bear one another’s burdens, and encourage one another against the deceitfulness and hardening power of sin.
QUESTIONS
- What can the law reveal about God and me, and what can only God accomplish through Jesus Christ?
- What sin or deceitful desire must I bring into the light, confess as true, and mortify as I abide in the Word and walk by the Spirit?
- How can I move toward a brother or sister with both truth and gentleness so that the goal is restoration, freedom, and the glory of God?
Jesus Makes the Father Known
Sermon focus John 1:18 John 5:19-20 John 14:9-10 Galatians 2:20
No one has seen God in all His unveiled glory, but Jesus makes the unseen Father known. To know God’s holiness, mercy, compassion, and judgment against sin, we look at Jesus. The healing testimony showed that a miracle is a sign pointing beyond itself to Jesus, the merciful God who saves. What we receive from Christ is meant to make Him known. We preach the gospel, serve with our hands, and go with our feet. The message is simple: God loves us. We are sinners. Jesus paid for our sins. We must receive Jesus.
The eternal Son knows the Father perfectly, shares the divine nature with Him, and is the exact representation of His nature. Jesus has explained the unseen Father. By the Holy Spirit, the life of Christ governs us: His truth renews our minds, His grace produces obedience, His love moves us toward people, and His gospel comes through our mouths. Our works must point to Christ. Truth governs our message and lives; grace shapes how we carry it. God’s glory is our aim, and the salvation of those around us is our longing.
QUESTIONS
- When I look at Jesus, what do His words, works, cross, and resurrection reveal about the Father’s holiness, mercy, compassion, and judgment against sin?
- Who has God placed around me who needs the grace and truth of Jesus, and how will I pray, speak the gospel, serve, or go to that person?
- How can my good works and testimony point beyond the sign to Jesus Christ, who reveals God and saves sinners?