You know, when John asked me to fill in for him, and I knew he was going to be here, I think I know what he must have felt like when he preached in front of Henry for the first time. But the good news is the Word is infinite, and the Word is just as adequate for Paul as it was for Henry Mahan, that it is for John, that it is for me. And that's what I'm going to talk about today. Maybe this will be one of those sermons that's just five minutes, but it's probably not going to be that.

You heard John read John 1. And the verse I'm going to focus on for the most part today is the first verse. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. I mean, there's a lot there. And that was the first verse, when I was growing up, when I was younger, that my dad, he made me, Len, Billy, all memorize that verse. He made us all memorize it. And I didn't know it at the time, but I'm thankful that my dad taught us the gospel, made us sinner of the gospel, and preached the gospel, even when he didn't have a gospel preacher preaching it to him.

And back then I memorized this verse and I read it like we all do when you're a sinner and dead. You read it as a natural man. The Word was with God and the Word was God. And what my dad knew that I would later learn was the entirety of the Gospel was found right here in this verse. The Word was God. And this Word Christ and Him crucified, His work, that's what this is. It's a person. It's finished, it's complete, and it's perfect. There's nothing you can add to it. There's nothing you can take away from it.

We could simply stand here today, and I hope that's what I do, like John says from time to time, and we can read Scripture. Because outside of that, outside of the true Gospel, not the spoken word, but the person of Christ, there's no salvation whatsoever. He alone, He only is my rock and salvation. He's it. And with that in mind, I hope I am going to try to read more scripture than just me talk a lot, because I'd be defeating exactly what I'm talking about. We'll see how that goes.

But this word, declares the preeminence of God in heaven and earth. It clearly states that. You see it in verse 3. All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made. That's a pretty plain statement. And if you remember, the way the Scripture starts out is in the beginning. That's how the Scripture starts out in Genesis. And everything was made by Christ and without Him absolutely nothing exists. Nothing.

Colossians, he tells us in Colossians, he said, for in Christ, for in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of a Godhead bodily. And he said, you're complete in him. You're absolutely complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. Everything that is in God is in Christ, the Word.

And Revelations 1.8, it was in one of our bulletins a couple weeks ago, he says, I'm the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. He is the beginning. He wasn't just there at the beginning. He is the beginning. He's the author and finisher of everything. And so what here, He is, He was, and He will always be the Word. When it said the Word was God.

So what does this word mean? So if you look up, the Hebrew version is, the Greek version is translated, it's called logos. That's what this word is, and that's where we get our term logic from, our intelligence and reason. That's where this word actually comes from. But what creation itself does, it testifies to an intelligent creator. It says that the sun, the moon, the stars, the seasons, the rivers, the mountains, even our ability as humans to reason and think, these are by God's design. The Word spoke this into existence. That's what He did.

But true knowledge of Christ does not come by logic. You can't educate somebody into faith. You can't reason with them to where they're believers. It only comes by divine revelation. That's it. And that's a person. And this is spiritual, spiritual discernment. And so this is the Word I speak of today. I'm not talking about the Word that is just a spoken Word. It's the Word that's a person. And we have a spiritual life only by God's Spirit. We know Christ only when Christ is real to us by Himself.

So the doctrine of Christ, I mean, I've listened to the doctrine for 23 years. And I was fortunate to have heard the Gospel for 23 years. It's very logical. It's very logical. It's probably the most logical thing. And I like listening to doctrine. I loved coming to a sovereign grace church until Christ showed me I was a sinner. Then I hated it. Then it wasn't logical anymore because it wasn't fair. It's just so opposed to our own logic, and that's God's right to be sovereign, that God does all things.

And everything that can be said about God Everything that can be said about God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit, can also be said about the Word of God, the exact same thing. His Word, God, Christ, is eternal. It changes not. It's sovereign. It's perfect. It's infinite. It is absolutely infinite. That's why God, the Word was God. That's an infinite statement. It never fails. It always comes to pass. It incorporates everything, all things. The Word is always enough. It is always adequate. It's always just and right and true because God hath said.

And Christ is the Word made flesh. When he said the Word is God, Christ was the Word made flesh. And He's all things to His people. And so the Word was God. It is a written Word. We have the Bible we look at every day. Christ said, through the preaching of the gospel is how He saves sinners. And we have this written Word. But the written Word is also the living Word. It is written, and I'll look this up, is used directly 80 times throughout the Bible when it says, it is written. But it is written is the entire scripture. the entirety of the Word is written for us to see. We don't hear Christ speaking audibly today. We do not hear that. We have His written Word. He sent preachers to preach. And the Scripture said the Word was God.

So how can God the Father and God the Son be a Word? You know, y'all, I don't understand a lot of stuff. And I'm going to tell you, I understand that. And there's mysteries that go way over my head, way more than my comprehension. But Christ does not need to be understood or explained to be believed, because if that was the case, we'd all be dead. We would all be dead. Revelation comes by Spirit. It's spiritually discerned, because I cannot understand it. Man's wisdom is absolutely worthless when you're blind. That's why Christ becomes our wisdom. It doesn't matter how smart you are or how dumb you are. You can have the smartest person in the world that will never believe. And you can have the dumbest person in the world, if the Gospel is revealed to him through the Spirit, he'll believe. And he even says, ". ..for who hath known the mind of the Lord, just that He may be instruct him, we have the mind of Christ. Do I understand that? I do not. He says I have the mind of Christ. He has said it, and I believe it. Do I understand all things? No. But everywhere Christ is mentioned, you can substitute the Word. And if you go ahead and turn, I'm not going to turn to a lot of Scripture, but I'll show you where He says Christ is the Word.

Turn to 1 John 5-7. 1 John 5-7, when he said the Word was God. And in 1 John 5-7, he says, For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. He doesn't say Christ, he says the Word. They're the same. And he says, and these three are one. Do I understand that? No, I don't. But that's what he said.

And in John 1.14 that John just read, he said, and the Word, the Word was made flesh. That's the God, man, that's Christ. And dwelt among us. So the Word is a person. And if you look in Revelations, He says, his eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with vesture dipped in blood, and his name was called the Word of God. That was his name. And we just sang a song about praising the name of God and he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, the King of kings and Lord of lords." That's who this Word is. That's who the Word is. He's referring to his self. The Word is Christ. It's written.

And this Word is perfect. It's infallible. It's our rock. It's our surety. If you remember, David prayed. I mean, he prayed this. He said, Lord, remember Your Word. Remember Your Word unto Your servants. upon which thou hast caused me to hope. This is my comfort, my affliction, and my affliction for thy Word, thy Word, a person, has quickened me." And this is Christ speaking. You can read Psalms as Christ speaking.

And you know, John, he says this book, this Word, can answer every circumstance we have. And you might think, well, that's just some cliche you see on a church sign. Well, it'll answer every circumstance, trial, affliction, and condition we face. It is unfailing. It's infallible. Because at the end of the day, out of all our problems, we have one problem. We have one problem, and that's sin. And there's one answer to sin, and that's the Word. So this Word can answer every question.

Spurgeon wrote, The Word is our rock of truth upon which we rest, where our infallible standard lies is this, it is written. He has said, that's all we need. That's the Word. And one of my favorite verses, you know, because I mean, I go back here all the time, because it does give you hope. And this is why we go to the Scriptures, why you could, if you ever have a problem, go to the Scriptures. Here's what he said. In Malachi 3.6, he said, For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed." And y'all know what Jacob was. He was a conniver, a trickster. That's what Jacob was. So how do I know this is true? How do I know it won't be consumed? Because it's written. Because he said so. That's it. That's enough.

And salvation only comes through the Word. Christ is our salvation. That's the only way salvation comes. And I know last Sunday, I remember him saying, he said, God, and I didn't really think about this, but he said, God has never spoken to anyone except through Christ. This word, His name, that's who He is. And we talk about His name. So when Isaiah said, For unto us is born, this is the Word made flesh. That's what this is. And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He alone is worthy.

And there's no physical words from any preacher that ever saved a sinner. None. Because if that was the case, everybody would be saved. Everybody that ever heard the Gospel would be saved. from God, that comes from Christ. Even those people, y'all, I mean, how many people heard Jesus Christ himself preach when he was on this earth? And not many, I mean, there was a lot that were saved, but there was a whole lot more that weren't.

It is a person, it's a revealed Word. Christ said in John 14, He said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Me. That's who we hear from. If ye had known Me, ye should have also known My Father. And from henceforth ye know Him and have seen Me. If we know Christ, the Word, we know God.

Go ahead and turn to 1 Corinthians. This is where he talks about the preaching of the gospel being salvation. We'll look at verses 17-21. This is what Paul talks about in the preaching of the Word. In verse 17, he says, For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. He sent me to preach the Word. And notice this, not with the wisdom of words, but a person. That's what he's talking about. He says, not with wisdom of words. That's man's wisdom. Lest the cross of Christ be made to none effect. That's what Paul said. He said, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, because they don't hear Christ. But unto us which were saved is the power of God.

He said, for it is written, you can see that, it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I'll bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent, So where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of the world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? If He's ever saved you, you've seen that. You've seen how foolish it is. For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world, by their wisdom, knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And that's the Word. And that's life and death.

And look in verse 25, he says, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God, the Word, is stronger than man. For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise are after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and He's chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. and the base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen, yes, and the things which are not, to bring not things that are."

Why does He do that? He tells us that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who God has made unto us wisdom. That's where our wisdom is. It's a person. and our righteousness to sanctification and redemption. Why? That according as it is written. And if you're His, you're gonna do this. He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. That's the word.

And y'all, this is that savor, that fragrance that is a life unto life to them that believe. That's what this is. And who's adequate for these things? Y'all, none of us are. None of us. When Christ, the Word speaks, you empower. I can tell you this from experience. You won't need a second opinion of who's talking to you. You will not. You'll find everything in Him. And He'll reveal that to you. And this Word is light. We read that too. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And I don't mean the sunshine. That's not what I'm talking about. It is that too. You know, even unbelievers experience the sunlight.

But John writes, he said, Then spake Jesus unto them. He said, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. And that's the Word, because the Word is God. In 2 Corinthians, he said, For we don't preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, the Word, That's what we preach. And ourselves your servant for Jesus' sake. Why? For God who commanded the light, the word. That's what comes. To shine out of darkness is shining in our hearts. To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

So hearing the gospel is life and death. I can't tell you if you're not saved, I can't tell you will be, but I can tell you right now if you're hearing Christ preached, That's how he saves sinners. So you remember when Isaiah asked what he saved, he said, Lord, who's believed this? Who's believed this report? Who's believed these words? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And it will not be returned unto him void.

So what does this Word do to you? This is another thing I can speak about experience. Here's what the Word does. It wounds you. It kills you. It justifies you and makes you righteous. Christ said, I kill and I make alive. And y'all, it is always in that order. It's always in that order. You have to be dead to be made alive. You have to know you're blind before you can see. I sang Amazing Grace. I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see. Until you realize you're blind, You remember the woman at the well? The woman from Samaria? And the one that Christ said, I must need to go to Samaria, and it wasn't a direct route.

Y'all remember what He said to her? Y'all remember the words He said to her? We talk about wounding and killing. He asked her, He said, go fetch your husband. She said, I don't have one. He said, you've had five. He said, the one you're with now is not one of them. And a lot of people might say, hey, that was out of character for Christ. to point out things and reveal things. It might be on the mean side. And the world might say God is a God of love. And He shouldn't have done that. Well, God is love. He is love. And y'all remember last time I preached, He told us what love is. What is greater love? He told Peter this. He said, do you love me, Peter? Three times. What did He say to Peter? Feed my sheep." He said, feed my sheep. The preaching of the gospel. The word Christ is love. That's how infinite this word is.

And these words of this woman, man, they kill her and they wound her. But y'all, these are wounds of mercy. Greater love hath no man that he kills a sinner. That's what he did. He said, God says in Deuteronomy 32, He said, see now that I even I am He and there is no God with me. He said, I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. Neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. And man, I'm thankful that I can't deliver myself out of His hand. Because if I could, I would. But I can't because He just said it. Not you, not me. He said He's commanded to bless and He's blessed. and I can't mess it up." And He'll reveal to His people in such a way, if He's ever revealed this to you, He'll reveal it to you in such a way, the Word, that you're made to know that you added and contributed absolutely nothing to your salvation whatsoever. Absolutely nothing. His work is accomplished. Only the Living Word can make a man and render a person completely helpless and say like Jonah, salvation of the Lord is finished. And if you've ever seen that, that's good news.

I tell you, turn to Hebrews 4 and look at verse 12. This is what the Word does, and it says so. In Hebrews 12 it says, and we've read this before, for the Word of God, the Word of God, this is a person, this is the light that goes out that He commands, is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. I don't even know what that means, but that's how deep it goes. And the joints and marrows and the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." That's what the Word does. It discerns, divides, exposes, and lays everything bare.

And when you see that, you'll flee to Christ. And we talk about fear, and I know John mentioned this last week. When the words are revealed, that's the first time you really are afraid or fear death. And it's not necessarily physical death. It's just, you know, if you die physically, you're dead eternally. I remember thinking the exact same thing. It's the terror of standing condemned before a sovereign God. That's what that is. And there's not words or emotions that I know on this earth that can convey that. But that's what this Word does to a sinner. That's what this Word does, and Christ alone does that. The flesh can't mortify itself. That's who you come face-to-face with. That's who you come face-to-face with.

And just like this woman at the well, if you ever come face-to-faith with Christ, it's just going to be you and Him. There ain't going to be nobody else. It's just a sinner in Christ. And John saw this too. He wrote in Revelation, he said, when I saw him, when I saw the Word, it was revealed to me, what'd he do? John said, I fell at my feet as dead. That's what John did. And he laid his right hand upon me saying, fear not, fear not. I am the first and the last.

This law, this Word, shows us how unrighteous we are and far from God. And it is a death sentence to a sinner. Like this Ten Commandments, put them up in the courtroom. That's fine. Whatever. It's a death sentence. That's not the Word. But only when it's revealed to be that, a revelation from the Word, is there any hope. And Paul knew this. Paul said the same thing. Y'all remember what he said? He said, For I was alive without the law once. I was a Pharisee of Pharisees. I obeyed everything from my childhood. I was the picture of following the law. But when the commandment, the word came to me, what happened? Sin revived and I died. That's what Paul said. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. for sin, taken occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and it slew me." That's what Paul said.

And Spurgeon said, whenever it was revealed to him, he said, I was cast from His sight. I was utterly abhorred of God, hated of God, trampled in the mire of the streets in His anger. That's pretty good. I can relate to something like that. But that's what the Word does to a sinner. That's what it convinces us as it is written. And this is what it says. There is none righteous. None. Not one. There's none that understand. There's none that seek after God. Let the rest of the world tell them you've got to seek God. There's none that do it. None seek after Him. They're all gone out of the way. They're all together unprofitable. There's none that do with good. No, not one.

And we hate to hear that. This is what it reveals to us. It strips us. It slays us. It kills us. It wounds us until we say with Paul, you remember what Paul said? He said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

So where is our righteousness then? Because I can tell you I ain't got none. I can tell you that. Sin is our name. How are we righteous? The Word reveals Christ our righteousness. And here's the good news. He sent a high priest. He sent a Word made flesh. The God-man, our surety. Y'all remember what he said in Job? He said, deliver that sinner from the pit. I found a ransom. That's the Word, the God-man. And this is where our righteousness comes from. It comes from Him.

If you look in 2 Corinthians, and we don't need to turn there, we know what this is. Here's where our righteousness comes from. In 2 Corinthians, He said, For He hath made Him, the God-man, He hath made Him the Word made flesh, to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Christ never sinned. He never became a sinner, yet He was made sin for His people. I don't know how. I cannot explain that. I'm not even going to try. I believe what it says because it's written. That's what He said. And we believe and He's convinced us. He went to the cross as a spotless lamb, pursued death, and He was made sin for His people. Why? so that we might become the righteous of God in Him. That's how we're made righteous. Not in ourselves, but in Christ, the Word made flesh. He who knew no sin was made sin. We who knew no righteousness were made righteous. And we stand in Christ.

So the Word is our hope in unbelief. We're so full of it, right? Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. And I often wonder this myself at times. If we cling to Christ for our acceptance, For our salvation and redemption, before God till our dying day, why do we have such a hard time looking to Him for the assurance of that same acceptance? Why do when things get hard, where do we go? We go right to ourself? Right to ourself.

Don Fortner said, there's absolutely no reason to question His Word, His goodness, His righteousness and mercy. All doubt and all unbelief on our part is senseless, shameful, unreasonable, but also unnecessary. I wish I could remember that. I wish I could rest in that. The truth is, apart from infinite mercy of God, we can't believe. We cannot believe. Christ is our belief. It's not a verb or action. Have you ever tried to believe you can't? Because it's not a Berber action, it's person. It's finished. My belief is finished. We don't have to argue but believe. We don't have to invent but accept the Word. And that Word is written. God has spoken. And that's our only strength.

So when doubt does come, and this is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus, the Word, came into the world to save sinners of whom I'm chief. That's what He said. The reason I believe on Christ lies wholly in Christ and not in me, He has said. And the Word gives us access to Him too. When my heart's cold, when I'm the cause of my own affliction, and that's what we are as sinners, we're the cause of our own affliction, where do I go? Well, the Word tells us that. He says, let us therefore come boldly into the throne of grace. Boldly. that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. That's our only rest. That's the rest that we labor to find. And every promise is fulfilled in Christ. It's not yes and no. It's all the promises in God are yes and amen.

So when Isaiah says, look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I'm God and there's none else. If he says this to you, you're going to look to him. You're going to look to him. To God's people, this is a command, it's not a suggestion, or request, or invitation. God said to Israel, I remember what Balaam, what he said, he said, God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said it, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? That's the Word. When he said the Word was God, this is the Word. Behold, I've received a commandment to bless, and He's blessed it, and I can't do anything about it. He's the author, a finisher of my faith." And y'all, it's finished. It's finished. Don't ever doubt that. We will. I will. It doesn't matter what I think. It's finished. That accounts for everything, including our sin and unbelief.

So in closing, the Word of God The Word who is God is written, and that's enough. That's enough. It's not a debate or an argument, but it's our only hope for every believer. It's our defense. It's our hiding place. It's our refuge. And y'all know, when this was revealed to you, when this was revealed to Micah, you remember what he said. And I think truly every sinner has said this. He said, Who is a God like unto thee, that pardons iniquity and passes by the transgression of the remit of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. That's what this Word says to a sinner. He will turn again, and He will have compassion on us, and He'll subdue our iniquities, and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. He was made sin for us. It's like the song says, they were nailed to the cross and I bear them no more. And Paul said, as it is written, behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling block and rock of offense. That's Christ. That's the Word. Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed. And David also said, He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be moved." Why? Because I feel like I can be moved. Well, Christ said you can't be moved. He has said it. In God is my salvation and my glory. The rock of my strength and my refuge is in God, not in me.

And so we say with Paul, and this is what Christ reveals this to you and calls you to see about the Word. But what things were gained to me, those I counted loss. For Christ, yea, doubtless, I count all things, all things, but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness, because we don't have any, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith. And faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." The Word is God. And about the Word, this is what Paul said. He said, when he was preaching the gospel, he said, Brethren, when I came to you, when I came to you, I did not come to you with excellency of speech or wisdom, declaring you the testimony of God, for I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." That is the Word. That's the Word made flesh. That's when He says, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. The Word was God. And this is the Word.