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But the reality of it is there

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is a unique and powerful distinctive declarative that's being made. And it all sets the precedent. Now that brings us to the Incarnation, which is verse 14. And it says, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory and the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. Notice this. Full of grace and truth. So when he says the Word was made flesh, keep this in mind. He came himself. That's what it's talking about, that God himself came. He dwelt amongst us. By the way, if you were to read this word, it would be the same word that you would get the phrase tabernacled from. So the. The tie here is beautiful because the picture is remarkable. It ties us directly to the presence of God in the tabernacle in the Old Testament, which is remarkable. Remember this God here is not some distant or theoretical God. He is personal. He's visible. He's knowable. That's what the Bible says. And the glory of God is now revealed in a person, right? Not a place, not the tabernacle anymore, not the temple. It's literally in the person of Jesus Christ. Again, it sets another precedent. And the precedent that is set is remarkable because the rest of John reveals to us who Jesus is by exactly what he does. And that is a very, very powerful thing. Every miracle is a revelation of his glory. Now why am I saying that? Because if you want to get close

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to God, this is the book you want to read.

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If you want to deepen your relationship with Christ, this is it. This is the one you need to go to.

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Now there's another incredible verse here, and

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this verse is really important. Verse 17, by the way, they're all incredible. But I want to focus on these. Verse 1, verse 14, verse 17. Look what verse 17 says. It says, for the law was. Was given by Moses. But notice what it says. But grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Now what it's actually saying when it's translated correctly is it says the law was given by Moses, grace and truth realized in the law through Jesus Christ. Now that's important because what that reminds us of is the law is not bad. The law is the precedent setter. It carries the distinctions. We learned that very on, very early on from the book of Genesis. The law reveals sin. It literally defines what righteousness is and it shows God's perfect standard. But keep this in mind, it can't save anybody. That's the critical portion here. So through Moses, the law was given, but through Jesus we see grace.

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I said grace.

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Wow, that's crazy. Through Jesus, grace and truth realized in the law. So that's pretty amazing. By the way, I'm not gonna like

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edit any of this out. This is like I'm keeping it real here.

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Okay, so what does that mean?

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Well, it's very important we understand this.

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It means grace is not opposed to truth. It means that grace and truth are perfectly united in the person of Christ. And it also means that Jesus himself, our Messiah, he fulfills the law and literally provides what the law could never give. Why?

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Because in order to go to heaven,

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you can't commit a sin. You must live the law of God perfectly.

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We can't do that. But Jesus did.

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And through his fulfillment of the law,

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we get to wear his robe of righteousness.

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We get credit for the salvation. We get credit. Our salvation comes because of the credit

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that we get from the finished work of Jesus Christ. You didn't have to do anything for

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it except simply receive the gift, except simply trust him.

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Now there's a precedent that gets set here yet again.

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John, throughout the Gospel account, will continually

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show you some very important things. He's going to continually show you that religion can't save you.

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Okay? Religion as we see it, religious systems,

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they can't save you.

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Only a relationship with Christ through putting

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your faith and trust in him will. And John even tells us this.

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He tells us that one of his purposes In John chapter 20, he says,

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is to prove that Jesus is the

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Son of God and to lead people to belief in the Son of God, to experience life as a result. So this is how chapter one sets the whole tone. It establishes the authority through the declaration that Jesus is God. It establishes accessibility by telling us, hey, he became man.

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And it establishes salvation by explaining how grace and truth is realized in the law through his very life. Everything that follows at this point shows us his deity.

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It points us to reveals his authority. The encounters that we see In John expose the condition of the, of the human heart.

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Jesus does that. And this is where I think it's the most important. And this is what I'm looking forward to doing. I've been looking forward to since I started this video. And that's to tell you where it

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all lands, why it actually means something.

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Why? Because God came.

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He literally came to this earth. It's not some philosophy, it's not some religion. It's God inserting himself into human history. I hope we can understand how big that is. He came, he's knowable, he dwelt among us. He revealed Himself with clarity.

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But perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this is that we have a real opportunity. What is the opportunity? The opportunity is to know him personally.

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The opportunity is to walk with him daily.

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The opportunity is to experience what the revelation of grace and truth truly is in reality.

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Not theory, through Christ.

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But here's the warning and this is important. You can't stay neutral.

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John forces a decision.

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Make no mistake, it's very clear.

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You either believe or you reject.

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That brings us to a call to action.

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And most of you have already done this.

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Thank you, Jesus.

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Don't ignore what God has made clear. Don't reduce Jesus to anything less than who he actually is. Respond to him as the Lord of your life.

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Why? Because so much is at stake. If you're a believer in Jesus and you've already put your faith and trust in him, and you're watching this video, which most of you are, you have an opportunity to deepen the riches of the relationship that you have with him, to grow the wealth that he has available to you, to seek him in a new way and experience him with a certain fullness that no man can explain. That's the challenge. We've been living in an extraordinary time. I never thought in a million years I would see a precious widow suffer the way Erica has suffered. I've been mind blown by the cesspool

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of nonsense that has just surfaced in the social media realm.

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But I realized something. All of that is a result of people who claim Christ but never ever set the precedent that John chapter one establishes. So now is the time. Let's set that precedent and watch God do great things. Why? Because let me just explain this. Everything is at stake. We have an amazing God. Let's watch him do amazing things. I love you guys. God bless you. I'm proud of the reading that you're doing. Can't wait to see you at the next Q and A. Keep fighting the good fight.