A Genuine Christian’s Response to the Gospel – Part 3.

24^th March 2019 Sunday Worship Service

10:30-12:00 AM, Grace Derabassi Church

Text: John 1: 14

Title: A Genuine Christian’s Response to the Gospel – Part 3.

If you bring your Bible, would you turn your Bible to the book of Gospel John, chapter 1 verse 14? If you do not have a Bible would you just raise your hand and receive it from the usher? We are continuing our series on “A Genuine Christian’s Response to the Gospel” from John 1:10-14, which we have started 2 Sundays ago.

I have uploaded those sermon notes on the blog for you to look up again. Actually, I uploaded on the blog because some people were asking me to record my sermon and give to them. We do not have volunteers or the technology to be recording and editing the sermons, so I have decided to upload just the notes for them to read. It usually took me 40-45 minutes to preach, because I cannot speak fast because my pronunciation and enunciation often go horrible if I speak more than 70 words per minutes.

The fastest speaker I have ever listened to is Albert Mohler, the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He speaks 173 words per minutes. One of the slowest preachers I have ever heard is John Piper, the founder of DesiringGod.org. He speaks 60-70 words per minutes. John MacArthur, founder of gty.org speaks 140 words per minute. And my former pastor Sammy Williams of Cornerstone Community Church Goa speaks 120 words per minutes. What I mean by this analysis is that though I speak 40-45 minutes here, reading the sermon on the blog will take you quite less of time, maybe 20-25 minutes only. What to do! I neither was born nor grew up in America or England. So take time to read the blog posts. The blog address is senxer.blogspot.com.

I want to tell you again that the message of John is for us to believe in Jesus Christ, that He is the son of God who came into the world to save sinners, and by believing we may have life in Him (John 20:31). The book of John is interesting. It recorded the 7“I am” statements of Christ, declaring himself the eternal God; it recorded 7 miracles/sign of Christ to prove that He is God, and also it recorded the 7 witnesses of Christ, declaring that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, the giver of eternal life. The number 7 is important because it is the symbol of perfection; for God created the heaven and the earth, and everything on it and rested on the 7^th day.

The context of our passage is the account of one of the seven witnesses of Christ. Look at verse 6-7. John 1:6-7 “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.” This man is not the John who wrote this Gospel, but the John who baptized Jesus at Jordan River, known to us as John the Baptist.

Then, Apostle John quickly drew us back to the main topic in v8, which he has begun from verse 1, and talk about the eternal God. John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”

And by the time we reached to today’s verse, he said that Jesus is not only the eternal God, but that He is God in flesh. That the eternal God chose to become man to reveal who He is to the world. Last 2 Sundays we have seen from verse 10-11, how the Jews and the world respond to this coming of eternal God in the form of man. They rejected Him by ignoring Him. The indictment John used was “they did not know him,” and the first implication we have learned from this is that a Genuine Christian’s response to the Gospel is to Know the Jesus Christ of the Gospel.

And in verse 12-13 we see the response of another group, they received Christ and therefore He gave them the right to become the children of God. The second implication we have learned from this is that a Genuine Christian’s response to the Gospel is To Believe the Jesus Christ of the Gospel. Today, we want to study verse 14 and get the implication of how a genuine Christian Response to the Gospel, and that is, A Genuine Christian Lives Christ. John 1:14 “And the Word became 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.”

3.     Live Christ (14) (why and how)

We are not only to Know Christ, and to Believe Christ, we must also Live Christ. Because 2000 years ago in Bethlehem, the eternal God in the form of a child was born conceived by the Spirit for our spiritual birth and He lived for our life and died our death, that we might live for Him and die for Him. Listen to Paul, Phil 1:21 “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Gal 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

In verse 14, John unfolds his theology. This is one of the most profound verses in the whole Bible. This is the cornerstone of Christianity: “God becoming Man.” This is the verse of which theologians call Incarnation, from a Latin word Incarnate, which simply mean “in flesh.” The doctrine of incarnation means ‘God in Flesh.’ Jesus is not a man that became God at the age of 30. Jesus is not a man that attained the status of deity. Jesus even at His infancy even before He was born, in the womb of Mary is God. Jesus is God in human flesh. That’s what this verse is talking about.

“The Word became flesh,” Jesus did not descend into the earth like a superman, He was born like all of us. He lived like all of us. He is a man like any one of us. That’s what it means by ‘becoming flesh.’ And John recorded further, “and dwelt among us,” he said Jesus is not only just like anyone of us in His humanity, But He also was not secluded. He was not born and brought up in a secret place, where nobody sees. He lived his life among them. Jesus is a historical man, not mythology, nor a legend. He is a historical figure.

And John used a personal plural pronoun “us”. By that what he meant to say is, I know him, I have seen Him, I have lived with me, not just me, but many of us who are still alive, just go and ask the other guys! Btw, that’s how he introduced his letter in 1John 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, concerning the Word of life–”

But then John says, “and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,” what he meant to say is this: Jesus is a man like any one of us, a real human, truly man; but He is not just a man, He is more, He has the Glory of God. And there is an adverb of comparison “as,” compared to God the Father, meaning He is God too. That’s the humanity and divinity of Christ. Jesus is truly man and truly God. Truly man to represent Man before God; truly God to bring Salvation.

          And then, John used an attributive adjective, “full” of what? “Grace and truth.” God becoming Man is not to damn us, is not to judge us, is not to punish us. That is not He. He is full of grace and truth! How many of us do not want grace? What is grace? Grace is something given when we don’t deserve it. Man doesn’t deserve to be loved. We do not deserve a second chance. We cannot become children of God, but because of His Grace, we become when we believe in His name – the person and His works to accomplish our Salvation.

And this grace is an effectual grace. It is not a partial grace, it is “full;” it is not a limited grace, it is “full.” It can forgive all your sins of all time! It can forgive all the sins of all people of all times. Christ grace is greater than anything you can ever think or imagine of. I am a great sinner, but Christ is a greater Saviour, says Charles Spurgeon.

Now let’s briefly find two incarnational implications that tell us how to Live Christ. Firstly and quickly, we must live as Righteous Children of God

a.     Christ become man to make you son (atonement – man’s sin – God’s wrath)

As John succinctly said in v12, we become the children of God when we believe in His name. What does the Bible tell who we are? We often say, all of us are the children of God, we must respect one another; we all are children of God, we must not tolerate racism, caste, and discrimination. Well, that’s a noble confession, but theologically deficient at best and erroneous at worst. Look at who we are in 1John 3:10 “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.”

Not all are children of God. In fact, all of us were children of wrath. Eph 2:3 “among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” And that’s why we v12 of John 1 says, we become. Jesus made us become the Children of God because He has become the man of wrath.

Well, all of us are children of God, and all of us are brother in sister, no matter of color, community, or creeds in a sense that all of us are created by God. Just like Abdul Kalam is known as the father of India’s missile program, or just as Charles Babbage is known as the father of Computer. But there is a distinction spiritually, either we are the children of Adam or children of God.

Jesus became the son of man for us to become the children of God. He came down that we might go up, He became poor that we might become rich. Look at 2Cor 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” He died that we might live. He was bruised that we might be wholesome.

Should we not live like the Children of God? Should we not live like the children of light? Are we not the children of righteousness? How do we become like that? It is the work of God through Christ. 2Cor 5:21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” He was not a sinner but God treated him like a sinner. Likewise, you are not righteous, but God treats you as righteous when you identified your death and life in Christ through faith.  Christ bore the wrath of God which was mine!

By the way that’s theologically known as “propitiation,” 1John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” God’s anger is satisfied. The demand for the justice of God is satisfied. Jesus death is not a sacrifice to sin or to Satan. It’s to the Father.

Once I heard somebody saying of a criminal, I would be satisfied only if cut him into pieces. That’s likely the picture here. The full wrath of God against sin is unleashed. And Christ bore it all. He could bore it all because He is an infinite God. The preciousness and righteousness, and sacrifice of Jesus Christ is far, far greater than all the sins of the world at all time. Cross is where the Justice of God is shown the brightest because He did not even spare His own Son when he decided to bear the sins of the world; it is also where the Grace and Mercy of God is shown brightest because He forgives the vile sinners and declares them righteous in Christ.

So what must we do? Live as righteous children of God, not as children of the devil. Repent from sins. Start doing right! Come confidently before God knowing He has forgiven your sins! 1Cor 6:20 “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1Cor 10:31 “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

b.    Christ lived victoriously (to fulfill and to identify with us)

Secondly and lastly, the incarnation teaches us to live victoriously. Have you ever wondered why Christ lived for 33 years, why did he not just come from heaven and die within 1 day? He lived to fulfill all the requirement of the law. Matt 3:15 “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” He lived for us to follow – a righteous, blameless and holy – that’s Christian calling. Eph. 1:4 “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” 2Tim. 1:9 “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” Titus 2:12 “teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,”

Christ lived a perfect, righteous life, His righteousness is credited to all who would believe in Him. He has lived the life that we could not live. We live righteously, in holiness and in purity, not for our Salvation, but because of our Salvation. That’s the evidence of Salvation. If you are truly saved, you will live as children of righteousness. You will repent of your sins, and you will overcome sins. We can overcome sins because He has gone through all temptations and difficulties of the world. And He said, “I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) And a genuine Christian has truly overcome the world and sins too. 1John 5:4 “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 1John 5:5 “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1John 2:13 “I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one.”

How does one overcome the world and the sins? Because we are now posse non pecarre. That’s a theological jargon about the nature of man. A Latin phrase to mean “able not to sin.’ Adam the first man was posse peccare and posse non pecarre; able to sin, and able not to sin. After the fall of Adam, the nature of man is non posse non pecarre, not able not to sin. We can’t stop falling into sin. And btw, Jesus is non posse pecarre, not able to sin. I am throwing these Latin phrases to drive into your head and heart, that because we are a new man in Christ we can choose to stop sinning. Just stop sinning! 1John 2:14 “I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.” 1John 4:4 “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”

Do you overcome sins and temptations? Do you just go along the sins and the trends of the world? God is faithful! He always provides a way out from temptation. 1Cor 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

The incarnation teaches us to live as righteous children of God and to live victoriously with confidence to appear before God. Jesus is our Captain who has gone before us. He has given us hope to live in this world because He lives (John 14:19). And we have peace because He has overcome the world. Should we not live confidently?

S. Baring-Gould wrote this great hymn:

1 Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus going on before!
Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe;
Forward into battle, see his banner go!

Refrain:
Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus going on before!

2 At the sign of triumph, Satan's host doth flee;
On, then, Christian soldiers, on to victory!
Hell's foundations quiver at the shout of praise;
Brothers, lift your voices, loud your anthems raise!

Shall we pray?

Lord, we thank You for sending Your Son Jesus Christ for us. We thank You for saving us. We thank You for making us righteous. And therefore now, we come before You clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ, our Lord, even as we have nailed our sins upon that cross where He died. Thank You, Lord, for receiving us as your children.

Just as You have redeemed us to be pure, holy, and blameless before You and the world, Oh! Lord, help us to overcome every day’s temptation and trials of life – the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. Lord may whatever we eat or drink or anything and everything we do be in the consciousness of Your justice, mercy, and grace, and Your holiness, Lord. We know Lord this is Your will, and therefore we all say, Amen!