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An archive of Jacob Nannie's Sermons & Teachings
Our scripture reading comes from the Gospel of John, John chapter 1, the word of the Lord.
Beginning in verse 14,
And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father,
full of grace and truth.
John bore witness about him and cried out,
This is he of whom I said, He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.
For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.
For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God.
The only God who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.
Well, good morning, everybody.
I wanted to start today kind of by painting a picture.
So I don't know if you guys know this, but like the past two or three years has been this pandemic.
It's kind of disrupted life quite a bit.
And my wife and I are part of a Bible study we meet every Monday night, and for like, I think a year, we met over Zoom.
It was awful.
Not because the study's awful, but it was like heartbreaking to not be with our people.
And we got to see them every week.
There was an entire baby born in between, and we got to see the baby, you know.
It was cool, but it wasn't filling or fulfilling.
And then towards the end, when we gave each other the okay, we got to meet in person, and it was a sweet meeting to see everyone in person again.
And it was a climatic experience to physically see and hug and eat together and be with each other.
Distance kind of makes relationships hazy.
Not in a bad way, but just they're not fulfilling.
Think of Pastor Andrew.
He was gone for weeks getting Josie.
And some of us might have texted him, talked to him, but there was somewhat of a disconnect because we knew him.
We get to know him.
We get to know a situation, but him being here, coming back, was so much better.
That's sort of like God and his people all throughout the Bible.
So all throughout scriptures, all throughout the Old Testament, God is with his people, but this climatic moment happens when Jesus, as the Word of God, becomes flesh and dwells among us.
And here's the point of what John's saying in this text.
And this is a thesis of the sermon.
If you don't take anything away from the sermon, take this one point away.
As the Word of God, the incarnate Son fully reveals God.
And today we're going to discuss how he reveals God in his dwelling presence and by his sacrificial death.
So we see all throughout the scripture that God wants to dwell with his people.
As it started in Eden, it started in the beginning, God, and out of the fullness of his own love and of his own glory of himself, he creates Adam and Eve.
He creates the universe and he places them in the garden and he's there with them intimately and they have relationship and they're just living with God.
And we know the story.
They fall, they fall, they get exiled.
And later on at the Exodus, God travels with his people by a pillar of cloud, a pillar of fire.
And Moses actually meets with God in the tent of meeting.
And then later in Mount Sinai, he meets God at the top of the mountain.
And later in Leviticus even, God, they set up the tabernacle and God comes and he, another climactic moment, dwells in the tabernacle.
He gives them instruction on how to live in his presence and they do it.
And he comes and dwells and he dwells and takes up their sacrifice and they're excited about that.
God is with his people.
And even later than that, in the temple, God dwells in the temple, his presence is there, and he's with his people.
But it's somewhat like meeting over Zoom, right?
He's there.
You can communicate with him.
You can be in his presence.
You know what he wants from you and you can dwell with God.
But there's something missing.
And then we come to the New Testament, John.
And the word of God becomes flesh and he dwells among us.
That word dwells could be translated as tabernacles.
He pitches his tent among us.
And he's pointing back to all those instances of God all throughout the Old Testament where God's dwelling.
And he's saying now he dwells in this person and in the work of Jesus with his people.
In verse 1, we should know that well.
In the beginning, was the word.
And the word was with God.
And the word was God.
This word was is just like as far back as you can push eternity.
The word was.
And then in verse 14, the word became.
He enters into and invades existence and dwells among us.
And John says we've seen his glory.
God dwells with his people.
Verse 18 talks about how this dwelling makes God known.
Jesus makes the Father known.
And as Andrew will explore as we go through the book of Acts, God dwells in us.
So there's this continual movement from God dwelling like outside of existence, outside of the physical realm.
He's moving into the tent of meeting, the tabernacle, the temple, in Jesus.
And then after Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, he sends his spirit and God dwells in us.
And through that, through communion with God, we feel that presence.
We know that presence, and we're transformed by that presence.
Adam and Eve, they were called to, with that presence of God, expand the garden over the whole world and draw people in.
Expand the dwelling presence of God.
In the Lydicus, the temple was meant to draw in sinners and expand the worship and presence of God.
Jesus said, when I am lifted up, I will draw all men to me.
He's expanding God's dwelling presence and drawing sinners in.
And we as a church are the same.
With the Spirit, we expand the presence of God and draw sinners in.
God is revealed chiefly in Jesus by Jesus' dwelling presence.
But there's a problem.
So, it didn't really go well for people in the Old Testament when they try to, like, get to the presence of God, right?
So, like, take Leviticus, for example.
God says, here's how you live in my presence.
All these laws.
And all the laws are meant to inform his people how to live in his presence.
And then you have Nadab and Abihu.
They go in and they do something wrong.
We don't really know exactly what they did wrong.
But they go into the Holy of Holies and they die.
God consumes them.
He tells Moses in Exodus 30, verse 3.
Sorry, 33, verses 22 through 23.
Moses wants to see his glory.
And God says, no man can look at me and live.
And he says, I'll hide you in the cleft of a rock and I'll put my hand in front of you.
And I walk by.
I'll move my hand.
You can see a part of me.
But no one can really gaze at God and live.
In the temple, it happened.
I remember hearing a story about how the priests had to go in with chains.
And if the chains didn't make enough noise, they'd just pull them out because that means they died.
Because something happened.
They got to the Holies, didn't do something right.
And God's presence, because of his holiness, consumes them.
And in the New Testament, we even see this.
Not as dramatic, perhaps, but we do see it.
In chapter 2 of John's Gospel, in verse 11, Jesus turns the water into wine.
They see this miracle.
And John says that the glory of God is revealed in that miracle.
But only the disciples believed.
So no one's dying as a consequence.
But everyone is, with their physical eyes, seeing God's glory, all of his beautiful attributes put on display.
But only some of them really see God's glory.
Only some of them perceive that Jesus is revealing God himself.
And he says in chapter 3, we need to be born again to see God and his kingdom.
And so what's the problem?
The problem is that we need faith and cleansing to even be in God's presence, but to see God.
For us to live in the presence of God, for us to live in the presence of God and behold his glory, we must be cleansed.
The reason Nadab and Abihu died is because they weren't clean.
They weren't holy.
The reason that the people in chapter 2 of John didn't see, not all of them saw his glory.
They needed the eyes of faith.
And the reason that Jesus had to die is so that God could dwell, not necessarily with us, but in us.
The Holy Spirit in us.
We need cleansing for that.
This is kind of what John's alluding to when he talks about grace and truth in verse 17.
Verse 16, he says, we've received grace upon grace.
Some of your translations might say we've received grace instead of grace.
And then verse 17 kind of explains what he means about that.
He says, through the law, through Moses, the law was given, which was a grace.
The law, we have many thoughts about what the law is.
It was lots and lots and lots and lots of rules, but it was meant to inform God's people how to live as his people.
So Leviticus, super dry, right?
I mean, you should study it.
It's really cool.
But it's really boring as well because it's all these laws about how to live in God's presence.
And we're disconnected from it.
We're not there, you know, getting our hands dirty, worshiping God.
But all of those laws were so that God's people could dwell in God's presence, to live in his presence.
I mean, down to the way that the temple was constructed, it was just imagery of how to live in God's presence.
They would, you know, take the lampstand and shine it, and it's just imagery and imagery and imagery.
Here's how you live in God's presence.
But that light of the law, that grace of the law, only informed, it did not transform.
Grace, we know, is unmerited favor, but it's also God's transformative power, often associated with the Holy Spirit.
And so when the Holy Spirit comes in, you don't just receive unmerited favor, it transforms you.
Any Christian knows that salvation, receiving God's grace, is transformative.
Like, your life should dramatically change.
Even if it's an inward change, it should, you should be transformed.
And so, God says, through Moses came the law which informed you, but through Jesus, out of his fullness, comes grace and truth.
It becomes a power that makes you more like him, so you can dwell in his presence and manifest.
His glory.
The law informed, but Jesus transformed.
And he accomplishes this, ultimately, by the cross.
So God, he, through his dwelling presence, Jesus, I'm sorry, through his dwelling presence, reveals God.
And he also reveals God through his sacrificial death.
At the cross, God's glory, all of his beautiful attributes, are put on display.
At the cross, we see God's wrath.
And we also see God's love.
We see God's justice.
And we also see God's kindness.
We see his mercy.
We see his self-giving.
All of God's attributes revealed through Jesus on the cross.
So the death of Christ is the ultimate revelation of God and of his glory.
It's the ultimate expression of God's love.
So Jesus, as the word of God, fully reveals God.
He reveals God by his dwelling presence.
We can't miss the fact that God has condescended to us and lives with us.
I often, I don't know if it's a complaint or just open thoughts.
I'll tell Christine and our friends, like, oh, it would be so cool to be at the temple, right?
To get your hands dirty with doves and animals and blood and fire.
Because it's tangible, right?
It's something to hold and to touch.
And it would be so cool to see, like, the fire come out of the temple and, like, consume the sacrifice.
You're like, oh, he's there.
He's accepting of it.
This is awesome.
And, in fact, in Lydicus, they shout, right?
And it would be cool, obviously, to walk with Jesus, right?
It might be kind of scary, but also, like, this, like, fear of, like, oh, my, this is exhilarating.
It's like adrenaline.
But as cool as that would be, we have to realize he dwells in us.
And we can miss that.
We can miss the awesomeness of God dwelling in us and transforming us.
Like, when I was studying for this message, I thought, okay, how do we, John says that we have seen his glory.
Well, he saw Jesus.
He was even there when Jesus was, like, shining, right, at the transfiguration.
And so, but how do we see it?
How do I see God's glory?
Because the application of this is to behold and manifest God's glory.
I can't see Jesus physically.
I can't go back to the temple or the tabernacle and participate in that type of worship.
I didn't see Jesus rise up into the sky and leave this earth.
How do we see that glory?
We can't miss it because it's all around us, right?
Paul talks about this in Romans.
The glory of God is revealed in creation.
It's also revealed in us this living and existing with each other.
And I think I make the joke that I'm, like, an enclave evangelist.
And Christina and I have been so transformed by the community and the glory of God that is revealed through this communion.
Because a lot of us here behold and manifest God's glory.
So we can't miss that God dwells in us.
He can dwell in us.
He's physically present with us.
He's in our lives.
And what do we do with that?
What do we do with Jesus' dwelling presence, the Spirit's dwelling presence, and the sacrificial death?
We behold and manifest the glory of God.
How do you behold God's glory?
Because it's kind of like looking at the sun, right?
In lots of different ways.
You can't look at the sun and not be transformed by it in this life, like, in a negatively physical way.
It'll consume you.
But gazing at God's glory is kind of the same.
It's so powerful.
So how do we behold this, like, massive sun of God's glory?
It comes down to repentance and belief.
Repentance is removing those obstacles that withhold you from seeing his glory.
Like, we live almost in a cement box and we're shielded from the sun.
And repentance is breaking that box down.
To let the light of God's glory in.
This could look like sinning less.
This could look like prayer, reading, being with God's people.
And not only being with God's people, but having the eyes of faith to see the glory of God shine through his people,
through prayer, and through his word.
I had a conversation recently about prayer of, you know, sometimes we pray, God, do this in my life.
And then it actually happens.
And we think, oh, that was kind of just coincidence, right?
I was thinking about that and I prayed for it and it happened.
Probably not.
Like, we have to have the eyes of faith to see that God answered your prayers.
And through that answered prayer, his glory is revealed.
Removing the barriers of disbelief.
The disciples had to do this.
They saw Jesus die and then rise again and some doubted.
That doesn't mean they had zero faith.
That doesn't mean they didn't believe in him.
But they had to remove some of the obstacles that blocked God's glory shining through.
Beholding God's glory looks like repenting and believing.
And belief, don't get me wrong, belief doesn't mean if you can't believe that prayer is answered immediately.
It doesn't mean you have no belief.
It doesn't mean you're not saved.
It doesn't mean God hasn't transformed you.
It's just these obstacles that need to be removed to let the light in.
Let the light of God's glory shine through.
Have the eyes of faith to behold God's glory.
Be like the disciples in chapter 2, verse 11, where they see Jesus' work and they see God's glory.
How do we manifest God's glory?
Well, it kind of just happens by beholding.
Because you're being transformed by the grace and truth found in Jesus Christ.
Again, you can't look at the sun and not be transformed.
So beholding God's glory leads to us manifesting God's glory.
And we do this naturally.
We are made in God's image.
And so because of that, even those of us who are dead in our sin, in some sense, accidentally manifest God's glory.
Like, you can find someone who might be just completely atheist and does something and it's like, oops, I glorified God in that action because I'm just made in his image.
I have to shine forth what I'm made out of.
It's not an act of worship, but it's still revealing God's glory.
And so we, because we're made in his image, we can just do that and we can do that in worship because we're beholding his glory and we're made in his image.
We live as image bearers.
So manifesting God's glory is application is you're just kind of doing it already.
We just have to do it more intently as acts of worship.
And we also have Jesus as our perfect example of manifesting God's glory.
That's what he did.
He has made the Father known.
God, Jesus, through beholding his glory, sharing in God's glory, makes the Father known.
Everything Jesus does reveals the Father.
And so if you want to see how to manifest the glory of God, look to Christ.
Look to his sacrificial love for others.
If you want to know how to love sacrificially, look to Jesus.
And that will manifest the glory of God.
Model your life after him.
Work to put, here's another way to put it.
You can manifest God's glory by working to put his beautiful attributes on display.
Now, it'll be marred a little bit.
As you go on in life, you'll become more in the image of God.
But I can work today to love like God loves.
I can work today to be kind like God is kind.
We'll stay away from the negative attributes like wrath.
Don't work for that one.
But you can work to display God's attributes.
Think of the fruits of the Spirit.
Those are manifesting God's glory.
Putting his attributes on display.
And this is, it has to be, and it is, transformative.
Beholding God's, like I want to get hung up on this for a second.
Beholding God's glory is transformative.
I told myself I might not use this analogy, but I'm going to.
The Chronicles of Narnia.
Right?
Wonderful book.
I'm sure I saw the movie.
In the movie, okay.
So, Aslan, spoiler alert, it's all over the place.
He dies.
He rises again.
And while he's rising, one of the characters, Peter, is fighting a battle.
And he's, they start losing pretty badly.
Now, Peter doesn't know that Aslan has risen from the dead.
And he's losing and losing and losing and losing.
And he meets up with the witch, who is kind of like the main bad person.
And they're fighting.
And he's beaten down at the literal point, the tip of the sword, the point of death.
And you can see he's almost given up.
And at that moment, Aslan comes to this ridge.
And he's made new, glorious.
And he comes down.
And Peter's there on the ground.
And he, the lion devours the witch.
And there's so much stuff there.
And this thing happens, though, where Peter's life is saved.
And he just gazes at Aslan.
And this battle happens around them.
He's beholding the glory in this story of Aslan.
And as he does that, right, God's glory just is going forth.
And everything else that's happening is falling into place.
That's transformative.
Beholding God's glory to the point where you're just stuck in awe of him
will lead to a transformed life
where battles are won.
Like Narnia, it's a quite literal imagery.
But that happens in life.
We behold God and his glory.
We look at him and we're transformed by his holiness.
We're transformed by his light.
We are made new in Christ.
And Jesus, God takes it a step further than C.S. Lewis did.
He puts himself in you.
Take a piece of the sun and put it in yourself.
You're going to be transformed.
Made like him.
And with that, we do what Adam and Eve did.
We do what Israel did and what Jesus did.
We draw people in to God's presence and we draw sinners to him and we extol and magnify the Lord.
Jesus, as the incarnate word of God, fully reveals God by his dwelling presence and his sacrificial death.
And our responsibility is to behold God's glory and to manifest God's glory.
Think of how to do that in your own life.
We must be transformed by the grace of God as we behold and manifest his glory.
God is for his own glory.
And we can take part in that as his people who have his dwelling presence in us.