Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleThe Word Was Made Flesh
Bible TextJohn 1:1-5, 14
Synopsis The Word, the Son of God, who is God himself, who is the Creator, the Life and Light of men was made flesh and dwelt among us. Listen
Date20-Sep-2020
Series John 2020
Article Type Sermon Notes
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
Audio HI-FI Listen: The Word Was Made Flesh (32 kbps)
Audio CD Quality Listen: The Word Was Made Flesh (128 kbps)
Length 37 min.
 
Series: John 
Title: The Word Was Made Flesh 
Text: John 1: 1-5, 14
Date: Sept 20, 2020
Place: SGBC, NJ 
  
John 1: 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2  The same was in the beginning with God.  3: All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4: In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5: And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not…14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
  
Proposition: The Word, the Son of God, who is God himself, who is the Creator, the Life and Light of men was made flesh and dwelt among us. 
  
All that glory he had before the world was, John and the other disciples saw when Christ was transfigured on the mount.  John is declaring that the Word, the Son of God, God himself, the Creator, the Life, the Light was made flesh.  He says that he and other apostles were eye witnesses of that glory he had before the world was.  They saw Christ transfigured on the mount. 
  
THE WORD
  
John 1: 1: In the beginning was the Word…
  
The unbelieving Jews, as well as the heathen philosophers called the promised Messiah the WORD. Neither believed Messiah had come.  But using the old testament scriptures they called him the WORD.  For example when they read Psalm 110:1, “The Lord said to my Lord” they would say, “The Lord said to the Word.”   The old testament saints spoke of Christ as the Word.  David was most likely referring to Christ the Word when he said, 
  
2 Samuel 7: 21: For thy WORD’S sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things, to make thy servant know them. 
  
So John begins on common ground with those who opposed the incarnation of the Son of God.  He says, “We agree that in the beginning was the Word.”  John says in verse 14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”  John is declaring the glory Christ spoke of which he had with the Father before the world was as the GodMan, Mediator, the Covenant and Council of God to save his people.  It is that glory that Christ prayed the Father give him once again, 
 
John 17: 5: And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. 
  
Christ is the Word before the beginning.  The word “in the beginning” means in eternity.  It means the Lord Jesus is eternal.  His name is “The Word.” 
  
Revelation 19: 11: And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 12: His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 13: And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 
  
A word is an expression.  Christ is the revelation of God.  Everything God has to say about himself God says by his Son. 
  
Hebrews 1: 1: God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2: Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3: Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 
  
In eternity—in the beginning—before the world was created—Christ is the Wisdom of God.  He is the whole Council of God.  Our Lord Jesus is the Covenant of God by whom God would save his chosen people.  The “Word” and “Wisdom” are synonyms, at least in meaning as it concerns Christ.  It is Christ the Word speaking as Wisdom in Proverbs 8, 
  
Proverbs 8: 14: Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength. 15: By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. 16: By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. 17: I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. 18: Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness. 19: My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver. 20: I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: 21: That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures. 22: The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. 23: I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. 24: When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. 25: Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: 26: While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. 27: When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: 28: When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: 29: When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: 30: Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; 31: Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men. 32: Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways. 33: Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. 34: Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. 35: For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD. 
  
In eternity, in Christ the Word, God purposed and decreed everything God would do in time.  As the eternal Word, Christ is the Wisdom and Power of God.  He is the Council of God.  Christ is the Covenant of God.  The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the Gospel.  He is the Salvation of his people.  God chose his people in Christ and the whole council and covenant of grace was decreed and every part agreed upon and settled in Christ in eternity.  Christ entered Covenant to lay down his life for his people and make us the righteousness of God in him from before the foundation of the world.  
  
Paul was called to preach God’s eternal purpose in Christ. 
  
Ephesians 3:9: And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: 10: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, 11: According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: 12: In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. 
  
Through Isaiah the Word declared himself to be eternal from before the beginning, 
  
Isaiah 48: 16: Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me. 17: Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.

Isaiah 41: 4: Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he. 
  
Isaiah 46: 9: Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 10: Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: 11: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. 
  
The election, redemption, regeneration of his people was all settled in Christ the Eternal Word in the beginning before the world was. 
  
2 Thessalonians 2: 13: But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: 
  
Ephesians 1:4: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 
  
1 Peter 1:20: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, 
  
In time, the Word came and, as words do, Christ communicated, revealed, made manifest God’s will and eternal purpose of salvation to his people. 
  
2 Timothy 1: 9: Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, 10: But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: 
  
A word is the means of manifestation.  Christ manifests the invisible God.  He communicates the love and mercy of God. The Lord Jesus reveals the attributes and perfections of God.  He reveals God’s will to save his people through Christ’s blood. 
 
THE WORD WAS WITH GOD AND THE WORD WAS GOD

John 1: 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
  
This tells us that Christ is a distinct person in the Godhead.  It also declares that he is God.  The unbelieving Jews, as well as the heathen philosophers and the Gnostics, like modern day “so-called Jehovah’s witnesses”, did not believe Messiah to be second person in the Trinity.  They did not, and do not, believe is the the Son of God.  They say he is only a god.  John says this one who is the eternal Word is the second person in the Trinity and he is God. 
  
Christ is the second person in the trinity.  He is the Son of God.  That means he is a distinct person in the Godhead—"The Word was with God.” John says and he is God of very God—"and the Word was God.”  This is the relation of Christ to the Godhead. “With God” means he is the second person in the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  “Was God” means these three are one God.  As John declares in his first epistle,
  
1 John 5: 7: For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 
  
The Gnostics believed that if Christ were manifest in the flesh then he would be a sinner since all are sinners.  So they said it was only like he was in the flesh.  They say he was a vision, an apparition.  The same argument men make today that say that Christ could not be made sin or else he would be a sinner.  John says, “No!” “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” So fully and so perfectly did Christ reveal God, he could say, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” (Jn 14:9; 2 Cor 4:6; Jn 10:30).
  
1 John 4: 1: Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2: Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. 
  
1 Timothy 3: 16: And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. 
  
The Hebrew writer says, “Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be MADE like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” (Heb 2:17)  Therefore, the Son of God was made flesh.  He was made of a woman.  Christ was made under the law to redeem us from under the law.  At the appointed hour, Christ was willingly made sin for us who knew no sin and made his people the righteousness of God in him.  With the sin of his people on him, God poured out justice on our Substitute and he was made a curse for us, redeeming all God’s elect from the curse of the law.  Now, having accomplished our Redemption, he is made higher than the heavens, made an high priest after the order of Melchisedec, where he ever lives to make intercession for his redeemed people.  There is no “as if” to any of the things Christ was made.  It was necessary.  “Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be MADE like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” (Heb 2:17)  
  
THE CREATOR, THE LIFE, THE LIGHT OF MEN
 
John 17: 2: The same was in the beginning with God. 3: All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4: In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5: And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not….12: But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
  
Christ is the Word that spoke all things into existence—"All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”  He is God.  He is the Word who spoke the word. 
 
Genesis 1: 1: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2: And the earth was without form…3: And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 
  
Christ creating that first creation and giving life and light is a picture of Christ creating the new creation in his righteousness and giving each of his people life by regeneration. 
  
Colossians 1: 15: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.  18: And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19: For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; 20: And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. 
  
Christ was made flesh and bore the sins of his people and satisfied justice for God, justifying his people.  He manifest God’s holiness.  He revealed God’s righteousness.  He revealed God’s mercy.  He revealed God’s salvation.  He created his people anew in righteousness by laying down his life in our room and stead, making us the righteousness of God in him.  His church is the new creation created in Christ’s righteousness. 
  
Isaiah 65:17: For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 
  
2 Peter 3:13: Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 
  
Revelation 21: 1: And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2: And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3: And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4: And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5: And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6: And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 
  
Christ is Life.  He breathed into Adam and made him a living soul and made him have understanding—"In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”  Adam had life by Christ the Word, the LifeRight now, even spiritually dead sinners have physical life and understanding by ChristPaul said, “he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being.” (Acts 17: 27-28)
  
The word ‘light’ speaks of a relation which Christ sustains to all men—"That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”  Every rational man is morally enlightened (Rom. 2:15; Rom. 1:18-21).  Therefore, every man is accountable to God.  But though we are responsible to obey God, it does not mean we have the ability to obey God.  We must have Christ to give us more than moral understanding, we need spiritual understanding which only Christ is and only Christ can give.
  
Christ is spiritual Life and the spiritual Light.  He is the quickening Spirit by whom his people are regenerated and given faith in him.  "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not”—Christ is the Light that shined in darkness.  John the Baptist came preaching Christ the Light but they believed not.  The children of Israel were spiritually dead in spiritual darkness.  So when Christ the Light shined in the darkness, natural man loved darkness more than Light.  Christ must quicken and give spiritual understanding.  He must quicken us to Life in regeneration when we are born again of God.  It is then that Christ becomes our Light.  The new birth is not of man in any way but of God—"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
 
Sinner, will you receive John’s witness? John saw Christ transfigured in his glory.  He saw Christ the Word, the Son of God, God himself in the Man, Christ Jesus! 
  
1 John 1: 1: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2: (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3: That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4: And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. 
  
1 John 5: 11: And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12: He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 
  
May Christ give you the Word.  May Christ give you Life.  May Christ give you Light.  May Christ make you believe on him now! 
  
Amen!