You're listening to the gospel, like right now. You're listening to the gospel.

The Holy Spirit is brooding over the church. And according to his sovereign mercy and grace,

he comes down and opens the eye of a blind and a ray of light shines in.

What happens when we see the glory of Christ through the preaching of the gospel?

That's the question John Piper answers from John 1 14 to 18 in this episode of Light and Truth.

This sermon was originally preached at Bethlehem Baptist Church on November 2, 2008.

The word became flesh to be gracious to us. And it was grace shaped by truth and not

compromising truth. It's not wishy-washy grace. It's not unprincipled grace. It's not

sentimental grace. There's a lot of sentimental grace in the world. And so many people don't have

an biblical understanding of God's grace paired with truth and always vindicating truth and always

holding fast to God's truthfulness and His faithfulness to His own infinite worth and glory.

It will be a righteous grace, a God-exalting grace, a costly grace. This grace is going to lead

straight to the cross because at the cross is the only place where truth can stand if grace is

going to stand. God cannot justly, simply wipe away your sin and my sin. If he comes with grace

to save sinners, he cannot, and this is what the world doesn't get without our helping them

in teaching them. These categories are not in the natural mind. He cannot simply say,

we will let bygones be bygones because truth, faithfulness, truthfulness means my glory has been

defamed. My name has been trampled in the dirt. My purposes have been rejected. My justice calls for

punishment. That's real wrath. And yet he's so gracious. He's so full of grace. So what does he do?

He clothes himself with flesh that he may die. The reason the word became flesh is so that when the

Son of God goes to the cross and dies, grace could abound and truth could be upheld.

Truth is upheld because sin is punished and grace abounds because we don't get punished.

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