Beginning the Gospel of John

Tom:  Dave, as you know, in this segment, Understanding the Scriptures, we’ve been discussing, looking at, trying to understand better, the gospel. So our emphasis has been on salvation. And now we’re looking at the Gospel of John, with verses that have to do with the gospel and with our salvation.

You, in your book, An Urgent Call to a Serious Faith, you lay out three aspects that are important in understanding the gospel: 1) Who Jesus Is; 2) Who We Are; 3) What Jesus Accomplished for Us. So that’s kind of been our guideline in selecting verses in the Gospel of John.

Well, you know, as we’ve been going through this, we’re still going verse by verse, and I think all of these are important. Let’s go to verse 15: “John [that is, referring to John the Baptist] 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.”

Now, that’s interesting, because John—if we’re just looking from a physical standpoint—John was born before Christ, so it’s something else that’s being addressed here.

Dave: Well, it would remind you of Micah:5:2But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
See All...: “Thou Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be least among the princes of Judah, out of thee shall he come forth who will be ruler over my people Israel, whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting.”

So, the babe that was born in Bethlehem is the eternal Son of God, and, of course, Isaiah:9:6-7 [6] For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. [7] Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
See All... said as much: “Unto us a child is born [that’s the babe born in Bethlehem]; unto us a Son is given [that’s the eternal Son of God, who came as a man, took the body that was formed in the womb of a virgin, and God became man, didn’t cease to be God, will never cease to be man.]” And we’ve gone over that.

So, this is the one who “is preferred before me,” who “was before me.” This is—John will later on acknowledge that he is the voice of one crying in the wilderness that was prophesied to prepare the way for the Lord.

Tom: So our first guideline here is who Jesus is. And many of the verses that we’ve gone over, and we continue to see here, that this has to do with the deity of Christ.

Dave: Mm-hmm. Amen.

Tom: Jesus Christ is God incarnate.

Dave:  He must be God. In order to save us, because as we’ve reminded people over and over, all through the Old Testament, God—that’s Yahweh, Jehovah, however you want to pronounce it, the Lord of hosts, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of Israel, says, “I am the only savior. There is no savior beside me.”

So, if Jesus is to be the Savior—and the angel said, “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord,” then He must be God. There’s no doubt about it. He couldn’t be a man. He couldn’t be an angel. He must be God, who became a man to take our place in paying the penalty for our sins.

Tom: Dave, verse 16 says, “And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. (v.17) For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” I want to go back to verse 16: “And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.” What does that mean?

Dave: Well, we quoted earlier in this program from Ephesians 1, where it says, “In him” (that is, “in Christ”) “dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily.” God doesn’t have a body. So, the fullness of the Godhead now dwells bodily in Jesus Christ, who is one with the Father: “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. I and my Father are one.” This is all the fullness of God, and this is what we have received, it says. Now it doesn’t say, “All of his fullness we have received.” It says, “Of his fullness have all we [all of us] received.” So, we are receiving of the fullness that there is in God—grace for grace—as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (we’ve been talking about that this whole program), then His grace is poured into us. We understand; we get to know Him.

In fact, Paul writes to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 3): “We all with unveiled face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.”  And then,  John says, “When we see him one day, we will be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

So, now we are learning Christ. We’re getting to know who He is, getting to know Him better personally—not just facts about Him, but a personal relationship with Him, and so we begin to grow through His grace. But there’s a fullness that is infinite that we are partaking of.

Tom: Dave, verse 17, the latter part: “But grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” We talk to people who say, “Well, your religion’s okay,” and we even find Christians who say, “Well, the Word of God—yes, it’s inerrant, but it’s not quite sufficient.”

In Christ we have it all! He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Dave:  Yeah. Tom, God’s Word is inerrant and it is sufficient. There is no doubt about that. But now, this is a very interesting verse, because “Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” If you don’t have truth, you don’t have grace. In other words, “Well, I don’t want to know that my son’s on drugs.” Or, “I don’t wanna know this or that. I’m just gonna be gracious and generous.”

Now, who’s going to know real grace unless there is truth? Grace deals with the facts. Grace must have something to forgive, to be gracious about. So, grace and truth have come together. God knows the whole truth about us, and yet He is gracious. It’s like Psalm 81: “Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” For there to be peace, it must be righteous. For there to be real mercy and grace, the truth must have been bared, and it must deal with the truth.

So, this is fantastic! The law? We can’t live up to the law! But the truth about us, our sin, because of the law—and God’s grace—that comes by Jesus Christ, and there is no other way that God can be gracious to us; at the same time, the truth is expressed about us, and we are forgiven for all of our sins. This is only through Jesus Christ.

Tom: And Jesus said, “If you abide in my Word, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” So we’re encouraging everybody out there: don’t listen to just Dave Hunt or T.A. McMahon. We may be pointing to some things, but check us out. Check everything out that has to do with your spiritual life by God’s Word.

Dave: Amen.