[Sunday, September 21, 2025] Jesus Full of Grace and Truth | John 1:14-18
Sermon by Rev. Jinkook (Danny) Sohn (Hope of Heaven Baptist Chuch)
2025. 9. 21. 주일예배 설교- 요한복음 강해 03
본문: 요한복음 1:14-18
제목: 은혜와 진리가 충만하신 예수님
설교자: 손진국 목사 (하늘소망교회)
The passage we read together today concludes the prologue of the Gospel of John. The apostle John introduces Jesus as the “Word,” and he testifies that this Word was with God in the beginning and was God. And he says that in this Word, who is God, there was life and light. And now he proclaims that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
Through today’s Word, I hope that all of us will come to know who Jesus, the object of our faith, truly is, and that we will gain assurance in that faith.
1. Jesus Came Among Us in the Flesh
[John 1:14] The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
This one verse is the center of the Christian faith and contains the very core of the gospel. What makes Christianity different from other religions? The greatest difference is this: religion is man’s attempt to seek God. To appease an unseen deity, people bow to trees, set up idols, and offer sacrifices. But Christianity is not like that. In Christianity, God came to us. Other religions seek to reach the level of the divine, to become like gods through disciplines. So they practice asceticism. In Buddhism, there is meditation; in Hinduism, there is yoga.
Is anyone here practicing yoga? Do not do it. “It’s just stretching,” you might say. But according to the oldest and most authoritative texts on yoga, such as The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and Lucy Lidell’s Yoga Book, the purpose of yoga is defined this way: “All yogas ultimately have the same goal, namely to achieve union with Brahman, the divine.” In fact, the word yoga comes from the Sanskrit “yuj,” which means union or joining.
Other religions discipline themselves to reach the state of deity in order to meet god, but Christianity is different. God Himself became man and came down among us. The fact that God became man—this incarnation—is the very essence of the gospel and the greatest mystery of our faith in Jesus Christ.
Do you believe in the incarnation? That God became man is truly an enormous sacrifice. Why? Because God is almighty, omnipresent, self-existent, and the Creator of all things. By contrast, the word “flesh” used here—“sarx” (σάρξ) in Greek—means the weak and limited body of humanity. He came under the limits of time and space.
An only son of a large Korean corporation believed in Jesus and, having received God’s calling, dedicated himself to becoming a missionary. The unbelieving family was in an uproar. They said that if he went out as a missionary, he would not inherit a single penny. Yet, he and his wife went as missionaries to the Maasai tribe in Kenya, Africa. Without receiving any support from his family, they truly lived the same life as the Maasai tribe. They built a house using cow dung and lived together with them.
Once, a man who had been a friend of the missionary’s father since childhood ran a company in the United States that made golf gloves. He had believed in Jesus and had become an elder of a church. When he heard that his friend’s son had gone out as a missionary, he went to Africa to visit. He attended a Sunday service there. The missionary was preaching in the Maasai language. He could not understand a single word, but he was moved. However, when he looked at the attitude of the Maasai people listening to the sermon, he saw that they were not really listening and were distracted, which saddened him. After the service, he gathered the people together, set up an interpreter, and told them in English what kind of family this missionary came from, how many luxury cars the family had, and how large the company was. He told them that the missionary had given up all of that to come and preach the gospel to them. But they only blinked their eyes without much impression. Why was that? Because even if someone named the luxury cars and told them how many there were, or told them how good the house was and how large the company was, they did not know what those things meant, so they were not moved.
It is the same. The fact that the Creator God, the Word, gave up the throne of heaven and came into this world as man, a created being, is such a sacrifice and such a great sacrifice, but because we do not really know, we are not greatly moved. So the more we know what the essence of Jesus is, and the more we know how great sinners we are, the more we can come to know the grace of the Lord who came to us and gave even His own life without sparing it.
Then how can we know the essence of Jesus, His sacrifice, and how sinful we are?
[Hebrews 3:1] Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.
I hope that you will all be believers who fix your thoughts on Jesus. What does it mean that Jesus came wearing a human body just like ours? Jesus knew hunger like us, He experienced fatigue, and He shed tears. Before the cross, He even said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” to the extent that He felt agony. So Hebrews 4:15 says:
[Hebrews 4:15] For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
That is, Jesus is not simply a God who is far away, but He is the God who knows my pain and tears, and the God who is with me in my suffering.
Do you know who this person is? (photo) This is Hudson Taylor, the British pioneer of the China Inland Mission. In order to preach the gospel to the Chinese people, he took off Western clothing, put on Chinese clothing, and even imitated their hairstyle. He said this: “You cannot truly convey the love of Christ without entering into their lives.”
He did that following Jesus. Jesus, in order to give us life, entered into our lives, lived just like us, and showed us the love of God.
[Application] What kind of impression does it make on me that God came to me in the same human body as mine? Who is the person whose pain I must enter into and be with?
2. Jesus Gives Grace Upon Grace
[Verse 16] Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.
Here John says that from Jesus we receive grace in place of grace. What does this mean? Literally in Greek it is “charin anti charitos” “χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος.” This means “grace replacing grace.” It means that new grace replaces the existing grace. Then what is the new grace, and what is the existing grace? It appears in verse 17.
[Verse 17] For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
The law given through Moses is the existing grace, the gift of God. But now the gospel given through Jesus Christ is the overflowing grace and truth that not only replaces the existing grace but surpasses it. The law was given through Moses. The law showed us God’s holiness, but it could not save us. The law is like a mirror. A mirror can show the dirt on one’s face, but it cannot wash that dirt away. But Jesus gave us the grace that washes us completely and more.
In the Old Testament, the forgiveness of sins came by offering sacrifices on the Day of Atonement each year, and it was valid for one year. But the grace given through Jesus is not for one year but for our entire lifetime, and not just for one person but for all mankind, overflowing to cover everyone.
Where is the source of this amazing grace upon grace? Let us look again at verse 16. From where do we receive grace upon grace? It says from “his fullness.” From the fullness of Jesus flows overflowing grace. What is the confession of those who truly met Jesus? “I am satisfied with Jesus alone.” “His grace is sufficient for me.”
Why is this? Because Jesus is the One full of grace.
[Verse 14] The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
In Jesus, grace is full and overflowing. This is fullness.
In last week’s dawn prayer service, we shared Stephen’s sermon about Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. Egypt, both then and now, is a famous breadbasket in the midst of dry Africa. What surrounds it? (Photo – Sahara Desert) This yellow region that covers around it is the Sahara Desert. Even though it is surrounded by desert, Egypt is an amazing breadbasket (Photo – Nile Delta). Why is that? Because of the Nile River.
What is unique about the Nile River? Since it is in the tropical rainforest region, there are times when heavy rains pour down, and the waters rush down to the lower Nile, causing flooding. At that time, the saltiness from the sea is washed away, and not only water but also all kinds of organic matter flow in, becoming natural fertilizer. So even when only seeds are scattered, there is an abundant harvest. This is fullness.
Our lives too are often dry and painful like the Sahara Desert, but when we abide fully in Christ, through the overflowing grace in Him, all pain and sorrow and grief and anguish and thirst and regret disappear. In Him we come to enjoy true satisfaction, and within us joy and thanksgiving overflow.
William Cowper lost his mother early and lived under a strict father with abuse, suffering greatly. He was in and out of mental hospitals, and unable to overcome much pain and despair, he attempted suicide multiple times on a bridge in London. But one day, meeting John Newton became the turning point. John Newton, once a slave trader and a chief of sinners, met Jesus and became a completely different man. Meeting him, Cowper heard the gospel and met Jesus. That was God’s grace. So delighted, he joined Newton’s ministry and spent the rest of his life serving with him, writing 68 hymns.
Among them, in “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood” (hymn 258), it says: “This fountain will cleanse my sins and make me pure.”“This thief-like body of mine also longs to be washed from sin.”“The ever-springing power of the blood is boundless.”“As long as I live, I will always praise the love I have received.” What meaning does this hymn lyric have? It confesses that even a broken and wounded life can be cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Whatever the wound may be, when immersed in the fountain of the blood, there is healing. Even a forsaken and ruined life, when drinking this fountain, becomes a new person. It is his personal testimony and confession of faith.
Beloved, God’s grace does not end once. There is grace upon grace. New grace every morning, grace that gives strength to live each day, grace that forgives sins, grace that guards us in trials, grace that washes away our weakness, faults, and shame and makes us clean and heals us, grace that helps us overcome discouragement and despair and rise again… That grace has no end.
[Application] Am I living today by relying on the Lord’s grace? What weakness in me must be restored by that overflowing grace upon grace?
3. Jesus Reveals God
[John 1:18] No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
It is said that no one has seen God. Why is that? Because God is spirit.
However, the Word, who was with God in the beginning, took on flesh and came as a human being. That is Jesus. This incarnation is described in John 1:18 as the one and only Son, who is in closest relationship with the Father, making God known.
There are two reasons why God had to take on flesh and come as a human being, as explained previously. The first reason is to atone for the sins of humanity. The penalty for the sins committed by humans must be borne by humans. That penalty is death. Since all humans have sinned, all must die. To pay the price for sin, the value of the payment must be equal to or greater than the sin. The value of God the Creator is incomparably greater than the combined value of all creation. Therefore, God could come as a human to pay the penalty for all humanity's sins. Jesus’ death fully and completely paid the sin debt of all humanity at once.
The second reason why God had to take on flesh and come as a human is found in today’s text. He came as a visible human to make the invisible God known to us. Through Jesus’ words, actions, and love, we can see God. That is why Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
[John 14:9] Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”
Therefore, our life’s goal should be to become like Jesus. What did God command?
[Leviticus 11:45] I am the LORD, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.
To become like Jesus, who took on flesh, is to follow the path of holiness and sanctification, becoming like the holy God.
Augustine said, “Only in Jesus Christ can we fully know God.” So, today, we must continue to look to Jesus, learn about Him, and imitate His life. Because Jesus is the Word of God, we must read, hear, meditate on, memorize, learn, and study God’s Word daily. As we diligently strive to become more like Jesus, we gradually come to know God more and grow in holiness, reflecting God’s holiness in our own lives.
May all believers give thanks today for the boundless grace of Jesus, who came to forgive our sins, and faithfully pursue sanctification by imitating Jesus’ words, actions, and life.
[Application] What specific actions am I taking to become like Jesus? Have I experienced seeing Jesus in the lives of our community members?
하늘소망교회(담임 손진국 목사)는 뉴질랜드 오클랜드 북부 실버데일에 세워진 한인교회로 '하나님의 마음으로 사람을 살리는 교회'입니다.
Hope of Heaven Baptist Church (Senior Pastor: Rev. Jinkook Sohn) is a Korean church established in Silverdale, Auckland, New Zealand. It is a church that saves people with the heart of God.