Message Eight

John 1:14

He was born and bred in India. A man had never read the Bible or met a believer until he went to hear a missionary preach Christ. When he heard that God became man, he said, "I can't believe that!" But he loved ants, and to get away from the message of the missionary he went out to watch ants. As he saw them bearing heavy burdens and being crushed to death, he longed to help them, but couldn't. He asked, "How can I let them know that I love them? How can I help them?" In distress he cried, "Oh, if only I could become an ant, and still retain my human faculties, then I could let them know that I love them and I could help them." Then he shouted, "Now I see why God became man. Now I can believe it."

Let's look at the descent. It's written in John 1:14, "The Word became flesh." The virgin birth of Christ wasn't the origin of His personality. It was the entrance of His personality into the conditions of human life. The divine person became human, and yet He was still divine. He was perfect man and He was perfect God. He was the only person in all history who could choose His mother, and He chose one in the middle stream of society, making Him near to the rich and near to the poor. While He was born of a woman, He had no human father. Because He was born of a woman, He was a real man. Because He was conceived of the Holy Ghost He was born sinless. And He remained sinless. As God He wasn't able to sin, but as man He was able not to sin. By choice He remained the only person who never committed a sin. A Jesus born in sin and a Jesus who sinned couldn't atone for our sins. But He died for our sins!

Let's look at the dwelling. The Bible says, "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." The word "dwelt" literally means "tabernacled." Jesus didn't appear on earth and immediately disappear. He wasn't a ghostly phantom but a genuine person. All that's mighty and magnificent in men, all that's winsome and winning in women, all that's charming and charitable in children, is found in the lovely life of our lovely Lord. He went about doing good, and then He gave Himself for our sins. "Several years ago," said Dr. Hershel Ford, "a young doctor went to China as a medical missionary. He was soon confronted with a disease which was killing off many people, but for which there was no remedy. The disease wasn't listed in any medical book and there wasn't any place where he could do any research work. So the young doctor did a daring thing. He studied patient after patient and filled his note book with a list of their symptoms. Then he filled some tubes with the germs of the disease and sailed for America. Just before he landed in New York he took these deadly germs into his own body, then hurried to Johns Hopkins Hospital. He presented himself as a guinea pig to the doctors and professors there. They studied the disease and found a remedy. By the grace of God the young doctor lived and carried the remedy back to China, there to save hundreds of lives. That's a slight picture of what the coming of Jesus meant. He saw men dying in their sin. And what did He do? He came and took our sin in His own body and died of the disease on the cross. That was the purpose of His coming. He came to die that we might live forever."

Look at the display. The Bible says, "We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." The life of our Lord was a display of glory! He gave hearing to the deaf, sight to the blind, health to the sick, cleansing to the leper, and life to the dead. In all these mighty miracles men saw the glory of God, and at the heart and hub of that splendor is the grace of God. His glory is His grace. Valentine Burke was a notorious burglar. As he sat in his cell in St. Louis awaiting trial, he read a sermon by D. L. Moody in the daily paper and he called on the name of the Lord and was saved. After his release he went to New York, and he lived a clean life. But he couldn't get work. So he returned to St. Louis and was picked up by the police. They told him he had been shadowed by the police day and night, and he proved himself to be straight and honest. Then they offered him a job as deputy sheriff. One day Mr. Moody visited him. Burke showed him some treasured jewels, saying, "Look! They trust me to guard them. See what the grace of God can do!"
Well did the poet write,
"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me."
Tell me, have you been saved by the grace of God?

copyright 2000 Guido Evangelistic Association

All Scripture verses are quoted from the New King James Version.

This series of messages on the books of the Bible were originally written for broadcast on Dr. Guido's radio program, "The Sower." They are collected and reprinted here for your enjoyment and spiritual edification. Go to the Sower's site for more at www.TheSower.com.