Introductory Thoughts
* Remember, the book of John was written for a reason, and we know for certain what that reason was: John 20:30-31
* The Gospel of John begins by explaining in detail who Jesus is and what He has done—the prologue to the book, 1:1-18, tells us the deep Truths about who Jesus is and sets up the rest of the book.
1. Christ is Full
a. Christ is fully qualified to save, Because He has the Fullness of Grace and Truth—John 1:14 "… full of grace and truth."
b. The Fullness of God—
(1) In Hebrew, “melo,” which means, “all there is.”
(a) Psa 16:11 "You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore."
(b) Psa 24:1 "The earth is the Lord's, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein."
(2) In Greek, “pleroma,” which means complete fullness… Col 1:19 "For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,"
c. The Fullness of Christ
(1) His Personal fullness—Col 2:9 "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
(2) The Fullness shared—Col 2:10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power."
(3) Why would any Christian need to supplement Christ’s power and glory in any way? We are complete in Him!
d. The implications of Christ’s fullness
(1) Since all fullness dwells in Him, He is fully qualified to save sinners.
(2) Since He is particularly full of Grace and Truth, the Bible emphasizes that He possesses all that is needed to save sinners.
(3) Since Christ being full of Grace and Truth is in the context of His Deity, His fullness is limitless—there is no limit to His ability to save.
(4) Since Christ is the loving Savior, He is willing to save.
2. Christ is Full of Grace—
a. Definition of Grace—
(1) Not unmerited favor, but favor shown where there is demerit.
(2) Favor shown to the totally undeserving, who actually deserve exactly the opposite.
b. The importance of an accurate doctrine of Grace.
(1) To understand the importance of the doctrines of Grace, we must understand that we are insulting God and taking away from what He has done if we ascribe any part of salvation to the works, merits, or will of man.
(2) God will not share His Glory—Isa 42:8 "I am the LORD, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images."
(3) We must understand that salvation is totally a work of God.
(a) Jonah 2:9 "But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.""
(b) Psa 3:8 "Salvation belongs to the LORD. Your blessing is upon Your people. Selah"
c. We must give God the Glory for what He alone Has Done.
(1) 1 Cor 4:7 "For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?"
(2) 1 Cor 1:29 "that no flesh should glory in His presence."
(3) Eph 2:9 "not of works, lest anyone should boast."
(a) Boast, glory = kauchaomai, kow-khah'-om-ahee; to vaunt (in a good or a bad sense):--(make) boast, glory, joy, rejoice.
(b) One of our main purposes as believers is to proclaim the Truth about what He has done, NOT to take credit or even partial credit for His grace and power.
(4) 1 Pet 2:9 "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;"
(5) What Does Grace Do?
(6) Grace Convicts and makes alive—Eph 2:4-5 "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)…..”
(a) We do not convict ourselves, the Holy Spirit pricks the heart.
(b) We do not make ourselves alive—it is the Grace and Power of God, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, that makes us alive.
(7) God, Through His Grace, reveals Christ, and calls His People.
(a) Mat 16:17 "Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."
(b) 1 Cor 1:26-28 "For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,"
(c) 1 Pet 2:9 "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;"
(i) No man can reveal Christ to our heart—only God can.
(ii) No man can call us, it is God who calls us inwardly, through the power of the Spirit.
(iii) In this, we see God’s sovereignty, omnipotence and mercy.
(8) Grace Justifies, that is God justifies through Grace—
(a) Rom 3:24 "being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,"
(b) Rom 8:33 "Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies."
(c) No man can justify a sinner, only God can.
(d) It is a legal declaration by God that we are not guilty, and once a person is justified, they can have no charge brought against them, and God will not impute sin to them. Rom 4:8 "Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.""
d. Grace Sanctifies, that is, God Manifests His Glory in Changed Lives
(1) 1 Cor 6:9-11 "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God."
(2) 1 Cor 6:19-20 "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."
e. Christ is full of Grace, and God’s glory is manifested in Grace, because God loves the salvation of sinners.
(1) Christ Came to Save Sinners—Luke 5:32 ""I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.""
(2) The Salvation of a sinner causes Joy in Heaven—Luke 15:7 ""I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance."
3. Christ is Full of Truth
a. The Glory of God is Manifested in Truth—Because it is Through Preaching the Truth That God Saves Sinners. James 1:18 "Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures."
b. Preaching is the primary task of the man of God and the primary focus of the church. 1 Cor 1:17-18 "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."
(1) 2 Th 2:13-14 "But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, 14 to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."
(2) 2 Cor 4:5-6 "For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. 6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
c. Christ Is the Truth Personally
(1) Christ is the Truth— John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
(2) Christ spoke the Truth and bore witness to the Truth. John 18:37 "… I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.""
(3) 1 John 5:20 "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life."
(4) Truth—the only acceptable standard for preaching and ministry.
(a) His people are called upon to speak and live Truth.
(b) Eph 4:15 "but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head; Christ;"
(c) Eph 4:25 "Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another."
(d) Eph 5:9 "(for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),"
(e) Eph 6:14 "Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,"
d. His preachers are called upon to preach only the Truth.
(1) 2 Tim 2:15 "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
(2) 1 Th 2:13 "..when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God…”
(3) 2 Th 2: 13 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,"
e. His Church is grounded on Truth 1 Tim 3:15 "…. the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
f. The foremost characteristic of Satan is lying, and the foremost characteristic of those who are fooled by the Antichrist is that they do not love Truth.
(1) John 8:44 ""You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it."
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