I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of John, the gospel
according to John, chapter 1. While you're turning, I'll tell
you that Lord will in the second service, I'll be preaching out
of 1 John, and there was something that's
dealt with in that particular passage of 1 John I think this message here will
set the foundation. I want us to consider a point
in the next few minutes here that is so mysterious, it's so
glorious, it's so marvelous, I'm going to go ahead and just
tell you up front. I'm going to be dealing with
something that we've all heard for years and years and years.
But it is so wonderfully marvelous and I'll be so far over my head
that the only thing that we can do is bow to the truth of it. John chapter 1 verse 14. and the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Now, the scripture declares This
truth, the Word, God Almighty. That's what verse 1 says, John
1. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. Now here's the first thing that
I know. The Lord Jesus Christ is God
Almighty. The Lord Jesus is God. And the scripture declares that
God was made flesh. He was made to be. He took to himself flesh. God took the nature of flesh
unto himself. And the scripture says that He
dwelt among men. God in flesh walked on this earth. And John said, we beheld His
glory. We beheld the glory of Him being
Almighty God. And we beheld His glory of being
flesh. We saw His glory. God-man. The glory of the only begotten of the Father. Now that's the point that I want
to deal with. The only begotten of the Father. Now, it's easy for us to understand
the meaning of the term begotten. when we're speaking of natural
generation among mankind. Now, listen to this. Matthew
1, 2. I'll quote it. I've got it written
down here. Abraham begat Isaac. Isaac begat Jacob. And Jacob
begat Judas and his brethren. Now, this is what that means.
That means that these sons were naturally born from their father,
that the father begat. And we can understand if we're
speaking spiritually of a natural, not natural, but supernatural,
spiritual birth, generation. That's what begotten means, to
be generated from. Here's what John 1.12 says, but
as many as received Him. Now let me tell you what that
doesn't mean. It doesn't mean that the Lord Jesus Christ was
offered. The Lord Jesus Christ is never
offered. This is not a word here that
means He's offering something and you have the choice whether
to receive it or not. That's not what it means. I've
told you before, if I have a glass and it's empty, and I take a
pitcher of water and I pour water into a glass, that glass received
it. That's what it means. It means
to as many as received Him, not according to their will, not
according to their purpose, not according to their decision or
choice, but according to the will and power and purpose of
Almighty God, who regenerates according to His good pleasure. As many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become the sons of God." Well, what does that
mean? That means that the evidence that Almighty God gave the right,
He gave the right, to become the sons of God. He did something
for them that they couldn't do for themselves. What did He do?
He caused them to receive, live. That's what He said to that baby.
What did He say to Matthew? Follow me. To as many as received
Him gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on His name, which were born, which were generated, which
were begotten, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor
the will of man, but of God. Life was imparted to them from
heaven. So we understand that. I understand
natural generation. We all were begotten of our parents,
naturally speaking. And spiritually speaking, everyone
that knows Him in regenerating grace has been begotten from
above. They've been generated from above. But when the Word was made flesh,
when the Word took upon Himself a nature like ours, made of a
woman, made under the law in a miraculous way. Conceived of the Holy Spirit
and the result of that divine conception was that flesh was
united with eternity, with divine. Holy flesh He was with God, and
He was God, and He was made flesh. And that word, He was made flesh,
doesn't mean created. That's not the word. It doesn't
mean created. It means that He came into existence. He began
to be. He that was eternal. He's always
been. He's always been. He came to
pass, is what it means. upon himself the whole nature,
sin excluded. He knew no sin. But he took a
true body and a true soul just like his brethren. It was a body prepared by the
Spirit of God liable to weaknesses and fatigues and pains just like
ours. If he cut his finger, he bled. If something hit his hand, he
hurt. He felt it, he sweat, he thirsted,
he hungered. He did not take upon him the
body like Adam's before the fall. The body like Adam's after the
fall. One that was a body that was
now corrupted by sin, but he knew no sin. You know why we're getting older?
Sin. Sin. This body is going down. This body is decaying. This body, why? Because of sin. He took a body and aged. He aged. But he knew no sin. His body
was made like unto sinful flesh. He was made flesh. God, man. Why? Why? Well, number one, only God can
atoned for sin. Only God can forgive sin. Only
God can pay the debt of sin. Only God can do that. I can't
pay the debt of sin for you. I can't pay the debt of sin for
myself. All I can do for myself is suffer
the penalty of it. I can't pay for it. God alone
can atone for sin, can cover it justly. Only God can do that. And only man can obey, suffer,
die. So, for me or you to have any
hope, now you listen to me. I'm telling you something that
this Word declares. And I'm saying, I'm trying to
ease into it. And I know that when I come to
the totality of the conclusion that I know, I still don't know.
I believe it. God and man, two perfect and
distinct natures, two perfect and distinct, holy God, holy
man, conceived by the Holy Spirit. That holy thing. That union that
again, I can't explain it. I can't explain it any more than
I can explain the Trinity. There's one God and He is expressed
in the Scriptures in three persons. Father, Son, Spirit. One God. The Lord said, you've
seen me, you've seen the Father. Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. Never ceasing to be God, but
in time beginning to be flesh. Always the Messiah, always the
Christ, but in time made flesh. came into this world and was
pleased often to veil his divinity and power and emptied himself. Here's God, God Almighty that
humbled himself and made himself of no reputation. Submitted himself to the Father's authority Why? Because I must submit to the
Father's authority, made like unto His brethren. And did so
that He might, in perfect obedience to the law, His own law, submitted
Himself to the law, scrutinized by the law of His making. His speech, His declaration. That's His law. And He submitted
Himself and allowed the law to scrutinize Him. Obeyed every
jot and tittle of it. Why? That He might, by His obedience,
earning righteousness as a man. A man disobeyed God. A man must
obey God. When Adam died, you leave it
to mankind. Just say, well, Adam, you know,
he did it, but we all have a chance. My friend, our chance was lost
in the garden. That's it. That's it. Mankind,
everything that would ever come out of the loins of Adam, rebelled
against God and all of us came from there. All of us. When we disobeyed God, we started
losers. We started in the garden failures. And that never changes. Somebody
said, well, we'll go back and make it right. No, you won't.
No. There must be one that does not
come from Adam. There's got to be one that was
never conceived by the blood of a sinful man. The Spirit of
God conceived in the womb of a virgin. This holy thing. Scripture. That's scriptural.
You know that. I'd have never said that if it wouldn't have
been in the Word of God. I'd have never used that term. only begotten of the Father. Walked perfectly, suffered perfectly,
died in perfect submission, never doubting, never questioning,
and dwelt among us. He tabernacled in that nature
for a while, but now he's in heaven in that nature. I know that's a fact. The disciple
standing on the Mount of Olives, the day he was ascended, no angel
standing there. You men of Galilee, why stand
you here gazing into heaven? This same Jesus, as you see ascending,
shall come back in like manner, just like that, in the very nature,
God-man. He's coming back. Right now,
he ever liveth, right now, there's a man The God-man interceding
for his people, pleading his own merit. I died for him, I
died for her, I died for them. John said we beheld his glory,
we beheld the glory of Christ. When we say Christ, I've told
you this, that's not a name, that's a title. Christ means
God-Man. That's what Christ is. It is
the union of two natures. The Christ, the Anointed, the
Messiah. We beheld His glory. Not only
of man, but of God Himself. John said, we saw Him suffer. We saw Him die. We saw Him nailed to a tree.
I tell you, we saw Him on the Mount of Transfiguration too.
We saw Him take five loaves and two fish and feed five thousand
people. We saw God. We saw God raise
the dead. We saw God, we saw man, we saw
His glory. And He said, this is what it
was. It was the glory of the only begotten of the Father.
We saw the glory of that which The word means generated from. Eternal generation. And this
is where it just, I mean, you just stand back. Again, I go
back to what we understand about begotten. Abraham begat. Begotten from above. I understand that, but the eternal
God, He who has no beginning, He is
everlasting. The I Am, begotten of the Father,
the only begotten. There's one God, there's only
been one. There's one. The only begotten. And for there to be, this is
my beloved Son. For there to be a Son, there's
got to be a Father. For there to be a father, there's
got to be a son. If I had no children, if I had
no children, well then I can't say I'm a father. I'm a man,
but not a father. So there's got to be a father.
If there's a son, there's got to be a father, and vice versa. And He is said to be the Eternal
One. who eternally proceeds from the
Father, of whom He is of the same essence, one and the same
in glory, in deity, in power, the only manifester, the only
revealer of the Father, but the one begotten of the Father, full of grace, full of the truth
of the grace of God. Full of grace and truth. He who
is the truth that declared in word and deed the only hope of
acceptance with God. He's the truth. Now there's a
lot of malarkey on how men are reconciled to God. All you've got to do is, well,
whatever you're getting ready to say after that's got to be
by your works. If it's all I've got to do but,
or this, and it's not by works of righteousness that we've done. He is full of grace and He is
truth. How can a man be reconciled to
God? Well, I can tell you for a fact,
the only begotten of the Father, the Eternal Son, who is God,
same essence, same God, same God. God Almighty must do something. He must come in my nature and
He must live before God on my behalf He must answer every demand
for righteousness, every demand for justice. He must answer and
shed His blood and reconcile me back to God. He must appease
God. God must do for God what man
born in Adam can never do for God. I can't please God. I don't
have sense enough. I don't have power, I don't have
the ability, I've told you before, I can't even pray. Somebody says,
well I can pray, I always pray. Well, I'm so thankful, I try.
I try. And I struggle. You're looking
at a struggling sinner who begs that God have mercy
on him. We believe this. We believe that
God Almighty made flesh, we're convinced of it, and we rejoice
in it. Christ, the first begotten, the
only begotten of the Father. Listen to what was said of this
truth in Psalms. Psalm 2-7, I will declare the
decree, the Lord, the capital L, capital O, capital R, capital
T, Jehovah, Father, Son, Spirit has said unto me, here's the
Lord Jesus Christ is speaking here. He said, Jehovah, Jehovah,
Father, Son, Spirit said to the Messiah. See how deep this is? Jehovah,
Father, Son, and Spirit said to God, man, before He was ever
made flesh. He's always been. I didn't come
into being until I came into being. Not so with Him. Here's what He said, Kevin, eternally,
before He was made flesh. He said, the Lord, Jehovah, Father,
Son, Spirit, said to me, the Christ, Thou art my son this
day, this eternal day, the one day. God is eternal. This day have I begotten thee. This day have I begotten you. This day you've come forth from. Wonderfully declared. The Father
everlastingly decreed it, that the God-man mediator, the one
who would be made flesh in time. This is what He said. This is
what Christ said. I've read this so many times,
I'm going to read it one more time. Proverbs 8, this is the Lord
speaking before He came into being as flesh. Before He was born. Before He
was conceived in the womb of Mary. Before. This is what He
said. Before the mountains were settled,
before the hills was, I was brought forth. While as yet He had not
made the earth, nor the fields, of the highest part of the dust,
when He prepared the heavens, here's what the Word said, I
was there. When He set a compass upon the
face of the depth, when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened
the fountains of the deep, when He gave to the sea His decree
that the water should not pass His commandment, when He appointed
the foundations of the earth, then I was by Him, as one brought
up with Him. I was daily His delight, rejoicing
always before Him." This is the only begotten, the eternal generated
One, the One who always is, the One never created. My friend, we admit that we know
in part we do truly see through a glass darkly. This is a great
mystery, but this is the glory of setting forth the Messiah,
the mystery of Him. We cannot understand Him. He is not a God that I can put
into words. I can tell you what the scriptures
says about Him. can finite comprehend infinite. How do I
comprehend that? I do not understand. Let me tell
you what the wonder of this is. That we see anything at all.
That we know anything. That God the Holy Spirit would
reveal anything of this blessed truth to sinners. would give us a new heart and
mind and teach us anything. Before, we're dumb as rocks,
we don't know anything. Try to explain something like
this to a worm. Try to explain this. Take a maggot,
go pick one up if you want to. Let it crawl around in your hand
and why don't you talk to that maggot. about the things of God. That maggot has just got as much
ability to understand what you're saying as a man before he's regenerated
by the grace of God. The eternal truth of Christ,
the I Am, being the only begotten of the Father. This is where
the subject rests. Robert Hawker said this, and
I'll close with this. He said, this glorious truth
is the very foundation of our hope before God. But as the Holy Ghost has not
been yet pleased to explain the fullness of the details or the
meaning of this great mystery, we leave it as a truth revealed
by God. and a truth truly believed by
faith. We admit we need God to do for
us what we can't do for ourselves. We do not understand it, but
we bow. We bow. We bow to the truth that
God Himself has come into this world, made likened to our flesh,
our sin made like to our sinful flesh. No sin. To have a body that was frail
is our body. Obey God as we can't. Suffer as we should, but by the
grace of God didn't. Suffered in our place and then
in time would in regeneration show us something through this
message right here, the gospel of God's sovereign grace. That's
the miracle of this blessed truth. May the Lord bless our hearts
for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's take a look.