John 1:14

0:00 Good evening, church. So when I was middle school aged, my family owned horses. And there were many nights that my dad and I would go to the barn where they stayed, saddle up the horses, pack them up. We'd ride to the top of this ridge of the property that the horses were on, ride through some thick woods to a campsite we had cleared out, set up camp, ride through the rest of the woods to this huge clearing on top of the ridge where there were two great fishing ponds. We'd tie off the horses on a nearby tree, fish till dark, ride back to the woods by moonlight, ride through the woods by moonlight, and camp. And that was awesome.

0:47 One night was not so awesome. We were fishing, it got dark, and the moon did not come out. And I will never forget the look of fear on my dad's face in that moment as we realized it was going to be very dark where we were with not a lot of way to get back. Even in the field where we were, it was super dark. And we got to the edge of the woods knowing that somehow we had to ride several minutes through these woods where I could already not even see the head of the horse that I was sitting on in pitch black darkness just to get to our campsite.

1:21 The only sensory ability that I had in that moment was to hear my dad say, lay down on the saddle, cover your head, put the reins down, and let's just see what happens. And so amazingly, incredibly, which is still incredible to me to this day, but the horses without any direction from the reins in my hand by my dad and I walked straight through the woods, through the pitch black darkness, wandering around trees all the way back to the campsite, which is still incredible to me.

1:55 I don't know quite how that happened. As thrilled as we were, and truthfully still am, we were just lost with no directional wherewithal or ability to understand where we were going or what we were going to do. Do you ever feel like the Christian life is like that? Do you ever feel like God has left you on your own with no roadmap, no flashlight, no real idea about which direction you're supposed to go, no real sense of what he's like?

2:26 or what he's doing. Our verse tonight, I pray, has some things to say about that. Let's read John chapter 1, verse 14. John chapter 1, verse 14. That's on page 886 in your pew Bible or on the front of your bulletin. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory. Glory is of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. So our main idea tonight is God has revealed himself to the world through Jesus. Take encouragement from that revelation today. God has revealed himself to the world through Jesus. Take encouragement from that revelation today. I've got four points to consider. Four points to consider in light of God's revelation to the world through Jesus. Point one, God with us. God with us. So look at our verse. The word, That's Jesus, became flesh and dwelt among us.

3:24 So that dwelt word could have been more literally translated, pitched his tent among us, or tented among us. God's presence was with his people in the Old Testament through tabernacles and tents, but now he's come to us in the flesh in Jesus Christ. He wants you to know who he is and what he's like. Now that can feel like a very churchy thing to say, right? Jesus wants you to know who he is, but don't gloss over that. There's so much that can drive us into feelings of isolation from the Lord and feelings of isolation in this world. Repeated, repeated, repeated patterns of sin that we're having a hard time letting go of. Our sin drives a wedge in our relationships between each other and our communion with the Lord. Other things happen to us that may not be a direct result of our sin, the sudden death of people close to us, long drawn out fights

4:26 with health issues, upheaval in your finances, friendships suddenly ruptured, a strained marriage. All of these can create immense pressure, leaving you feeling alone, even spiritually alone, staring into the thick darkness of pitch black, dark woods, just wondering where the Lord is and how you're going to make it through. And if you've read your Bible long enough, over the years, you're going to be continually confronted with the reality that the Bible doesn't always give you clear, specific answers to all of these problems.

5:03 But what you do get is page after page after page after page after page of God telling us who Jesus Christ is. The word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory. Glory is of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. So what do we do with that tension? Why can't he just give us a playbook with all the direct answers? I'm sure you've asked yourself that before. Is that callous of the Lord?

5:34 Is that uncaring of him? Well, if right now sin is what is leading you to feeling isolated from the Lord, what you need more than anything in that fight against sin is not just a toolkit of how to defeat that sin, but it is a reminder that Jesus dwelt among us and is full of grace and truth. He's not abandoned you, but wants you to come to him and he will forgive you. If you're in deep waters and on the verge of feeling like life is about to just swallow you up, We could probably find some specific Bible verses to address your specific situation.

6:10 But what it seems like the Lord is often saying to us is, little soldier, little lamb, I know your needs. But what you need the most right now is to remember that in the middle of this situation, remember that I came and dwelt among you and laid my life down for you. Fix your eyes on Jesus. He's full of grace and truth. he has not left you. No matter what you may be tempted to believe when you're under immense pressure, he has not abandoned you. He became flesh and dwelt among us. Point two, a gracious counselor, a gracious counselor. So dudes like to sit around fires. They like to talk around fires.

6:54 Girls can talk just about anywhere, but guys like to sit around fires and talk. When you're sitting with your friends around a fire or a cup of tea or wherever you are and you're talking about what's weighing you down in life it is helpful to have somebody sitting there with you saying yeah that seems really hard that's hard there's a comfort in that but you know it's even more comforting when that person that you're talking with has been through the same thing that you've been through and can look at you and say it's going to be okay you're going to make it through this we're going to make it through this. There's a weight given to that voice that takes you to a new level of hope that is just so great and so helpful. Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us. He knows every temptation. He doesn't stand on the other side of a dark woods just yelling at you directions of how to try to get through what you're going through. He's walked through the woods himself. You haven't fallen into some crevice in the universe that's taken the Lord

7:56 by surprise, the Lord looks at you and says, I know what it's like to live on fallen earth. I've done it myself. You can trust me. Listen to what I say. So take your burdens to him in prayer. Pray the big, heavy, heart-wrenching prayers. Pray the most annoying prayer you can think of, if that's what you're struggling in, in a given day. I've sat with many of you who have, we've prayed together through the grief of a mom or a dad who's died too suddenly. Jesus Christ grieved with his friends over the death of Lazarus.

8:31 He knows. His grace can help you. I prayed with many of you that you just make it through the day when you've got a co-worker who's annoying and you're having a hard time making it through that. You think Jesus has never experienced the frustration of being around the disciples who have a hard time listening to what he's saying? He knows. Why do we neglect to take everything to him that troubles us in prayer? if you're bothered by something, anything, just take a moment to pray about it. I'm shocked at how many times I forget to do this in my own life. He's full of grace and truth. He will not turn you away. He knows what you're tempted by. There was a day recently where I was really troubled by the way the seam on a pair of pants that I was wearing was sitting on my leg. It was just like way off center, like way over here, and I just could not get it to stay on the side. It was driving me nuts. What kind of narcissistic fool has to be troubled by something like that in a day?

9:30 That's me. Well, after I was sitting in that for a while, realizing how foolish I was, I prayed to the Lord, Lord, here I am distracted by my pant leg. I'm sure there's something in my heart that's a deeper sin here. Would you please forgive me? Please help me to love my neighbor more than myself and my pants. I'm sure, I'm pretty sure Jesus never wore pants, but I'm pretty sure he never wore jeans. But I know that he has been tempted to narcissism or maybe self-glorification in the bad way. He knows. Pray the big prayers. Pray the small ones. Jesus came and dwelt among us.

10:13 he knows our struggles intimately he's a gracious counselor point three look people in the eye your presence with other people matters for Jesus to leave all the comfort of his heavenly home at the right hand of the father and to get down and dwell among us sinners because he loves us if God is like that then there must be a dynamic of our demeanor towards others that that mimics that as well that sounds maybe superfluous or maybe even easy but if you start to think about all the things that are around us to distract us from being with other people and loving our neighbor that the Lord has sovereignly put in front of us, it is not so easy. Put your phone down. Trade a text message for a conversational exchange. Look people in the face that are standing around you. Not like creepy like in the grocery line if you don't know them, but just keep your head up and pay attention to who is around you. Don't make your first impulse when you get bored in social settings to just jump on a social media app or on your text messages, but be with

11:16 the people that are around you. Have a boring moment with a friend. I dare you. A boring moment that's not just diverted with a funny clip on an app on your phone. Look other people in the face in other parts of the world. The incarnation of Christ is one of the theological drivers of missions. Go be with your neighbor in the pew. Share the gospel with people that you work with. look people in the eye in Southeast Asia and tell them that Jesus came and dwelt among us and he is full of grace and truth. Take a short-term missions trip. Take a permanent missions post. Go to people in Turkey and the UAE who have never heard of Jesus and tell them about him. God didn't just drop a pamphlet out of the sky and say, here you go. This is what I'm like. He came and dwelt among us. So you go do that too. Point four, an unavoidable choice.

12:10 So no matter what you may think, there's just no way out of a response to Jesus. So in the Old Testament, when God's word is mentioned, we see that by God's word, he creates, God's word heals, God's word accomplishes what he sets it out to do, and it doesn't return to him void. God reveals himself through his word. And what John is telling us is that Jesus is the truest fulfillment of that word, of God revealing himself. So not only that, but we have seen his glory, our verse tells us.

12:43 We've seen it in Jesus. Before Jesus came, when the Bible references God's glory, there are some wonderful, amazing attributes attached to God when discussing his glory. But there are also some terrifying, wrathful, just judgment moments when the writers ascribe to God when he is revealing his glory. But look at how John emphasizes the glory seen in Jesus. Grace and truth. The full revelation of God to his creation is found in Jesus, and he means to emphasize that he is full of grace and truth.

13:19 You're about to be reminded of that in just a few minutes when we take communion together. Jesus instituting that practice is just another example of him emphasizing how full of grace and truth he really is. Any attempts to understand God or come to him that sidestep Jesus are just a complete waste. It is an unavoidable circumstance. Any attempt to find spiritual truth or zen or peace on your own or your own truth without Jesus is just wasted energy.

13:49 It's not okay for your friends to have their truth and for you to have your truth if their truth is some made-up story about God. It's just not true. The full glory of God has been revealed in Jesus. Pay attention and don't listen to so-called influencers, even within Christian circles, that give very good motivational pep talks but never address sin, talk about Jesus, or the grace and truth that are found in him. They are just noisy machines looking for attention. You have no option but to respond to Jesus.

14:23 You're not rejecting a bit of information. You're not rejecting a made-up story. You are rejecting a person. Jesus Christ, fully God, fully man. All of us in this room have rejected the Lord and lived our own selfish way and sin rather than listen to God. And yet the Lord took all of the initiative to be gracious to us and show us the truth through Jesus Christ. You deserve death because of your sin. But if you come to Christ and confess your sin because he lived perfectly on this earth and died on the cross for your sin and was raised to a new life from the grave, he is gracious to forgive you and welcome you into his presence.

15:05 If you have never bowed your knee to the word made flesh, do that tonight. Talk to me. Talk to the friend who brought you. Talk to your parents about that. You are either living in rebellion against him or bowing your knee to him. There is no way out of responding to him. He became flesh and dwelt among us. The Lord's glory is shown in him, and he is full of grace and truth. He has not left you at the edge of a dark wood, asking you to figure out your own way to him on the other side.

15:40 He illuminated the darkness. The darkness has not overcome it, and he has laid his life down to save you from your sins and welcome you home. God's revelation through Jesus gives us sustaining encouragement for today. Let's pray. Father, we praise you, and we thank you for taking the initiative to reveal yourself to us through Jesus Christ. Lord, we praise you for the grace that you give us through him, for the truth that you show us through him. And we pray that you would continue to encourage us by remembering that he came and dwelt among us, even as that can encourage us today.

16:19 In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.