The Divine Love of Jesus
Notes
Transcript
Christmas my senior year of High School - Autozone - pay raise:
Aquarium
Gift baskets for my aunts and uncles
The following year I was in seminary - barely paying my school bill and hardly had any funds to even come home
The love for my family had not changed, but the expression of my love had limits
I wanted to express it, but there were limits of what was available to me in how I wanted to express that love
Love is not self-serving or self-seeking.
Love is doing that which is right, and rightly finding a way to express that love.
Love does not cause strife with truth.
God loves mankind. From Adam to every single person who has been given life from God is loved deeply.
What we know about the love of God is like trying to understand all of marine life from a teaspoon of ocean waters. It’s without and without measure.
God has no limits in expressing His love to us.
The expression of that love is found fully in
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.
The Heart Inspired
The Heart Inspired
John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
Cried - shout aloud - John wasn’t simply telling others about Jesus, but rather lifted up his voice and cried aloud so more could hear
If someone truly loves another; it inspires them to tell others. It moves one to speak up!
John was confident in the love of God, and boldly proclaimed Jesus
The Humility Induced
The Humility Induced
John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
John was born before Jesus.
He was born 6 months before Jesus, so how could John the Baptist make this statement with such zeal?
John was speaking of the eternality of Jesus - Before John the Baptist was given life in the womb, Jesus already was!
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
John knew that Jesus was God, and gave witness to the divine nature of Jesus.
John humbly said, Jesus is preferred - He is the One that is worthy to lifted up.
John said, I am not worthy to untie his shoes.
The Honour Imparted
The Honour Imparted
The direction of honour charged
John 1:16
And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
Fulness - pleromatos - completeness ⇔ fullness n. — the state of having every necessary or normal part or component or step.
Atheist seized this word often throughout the years and twist what John was saying. See, his cousin, John, said, that’s it. That’s all there is to see. Just a good man doing some good deeds.
That’s not what John was saying. John looked at God, and with eyes gazing upon the wondrous glory of Jesus, said, The fulness of God is before me! Jesus is completely and fully God!
Col 1:19
For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
Grace for grace - when I didn’t think that grace could be any greater - Jesus brings:
New grace
Continuous grace
Uninterrupted grace
Niagara water fall - the amount of water that continuously pours over is breathtaking!
Standing under part of the fall - beats the wind out of your lungs
John said, Look no further! All the grace you could ever desire, all of God you could ever desire to see is before you now!
The application of honour implored
John 1:17
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
The law is impersonal. It’s like a sledgehammer that keeps pounding and pounding upon us.
When it was given upon Mount Sinai the people were warned and afraid to not come near or approach the mount.
It was terrifying!
The law of Moses is frightening when we explore the consequences of sin.
It breaks us to the very dust we are.
The law embodies grace. It is impenetrable to us as sinners!
We are lost. We are blind. We deserve the deepest and lowest parts of Hell.
BUT! John doesn’t stop there!
Jesus, fully God, comes with grace accessible! God’s favour, His help, perfectly balanced in Jesus Christ is presented.
Jesus offers Himself to pay for the law on Calvary. Grace is now freely given to all who receive Jesus.
If the law is the sledgehammer that breaks; grace is what takes us out from under the sledgehammer. The grace of God then teaches us how to use the law as a tool to build our lives.
Jesus is the perfect balance of grace and truth!
The Hope Illuminated
The Hope Illuminated
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
No one can see God face to face and live - No one has seen the God in all His glory face to face - Even the cherubims around the throne do not look upon God
Yet, John lays perfect witness to that fact that Jesus is God. If no one can look upon God and live; then how did people see Jesus?
God’s love is without limits. He can do what we cannot. His resources are without end and His power without exhaustion.
God’s love found a way.
We read it moments ago - The Word was made flesh - Jesus veiled Himself with a body of flesh, so we may behold Him, the only begotten of the Father, the Son Jesus Christ.
Exploring the Gospel of John: An Expository Commentary E. Illumination (1:18)
Major Ian Thomas put it like this: “He had to come as he came in order to be what he was; he had to be what he was in order to do what he did. He had to do what he did so that we might have what he has; we have to have what he has in order to be what he was.” Major Ian Thomas is very good at this clever kind of definition. This one he expanded. “He had to come as he came (born of a virgin) in order to be what he was (a perfect man inhabited by God). He had to be what he was in order to do what he did (die to redeem us). He had to do what he did so that we might have what he has (his life, all that we lost in Adam). We have to have what he has in order to be what he was (perfect: man inhabited by God).”
The Son has declared God the Father:
Declared - exegesis - to make known by expounding
Ken - dandelion
soft, tender and beautiful petals - the incredible nature by which those same petals become fluffy seeds blown by the wind
Brought attention to that which we walk by, hate, pour weedkiller upon, and yet they are an amazing creation of God
Jesus declares, makes God known, to us through Himself. The Holy Spirit leads us to Jesus and Jesus makes God known through Himself.
Knowing Jesus is knowing God!
“Which is in the bosom of the Father”
This phrase directs our hearts to eternal condition of being God. Jesus did not stop being God. He always is God, and always will be God.
It demonstrates a condition of fullest intimacy, of boundless love, of fathomless affection.
This relationship was not broken by the incarnation. The Son made flesh.
When we become part of this family of God, this type of relationship is what God brings us into.
This is divine love.
You are loved deeply this morning.
No one has ever cared for you like Jesus!