I want to deal with these first
13 verses. Now, if you read John's Gospel, you'll see real quickly that
it's dealing with the eternality, the deity of Christ being God,
manifest in the flesh. That's the whole theme and subject
of John's Gospel. the deity, that God, that being
God in this world, our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's made known here
more than any place else in the scriptures. That one who was
born in Bethlehem, that everybody had up their nativity scenes
and had their cantatas and held their candles and all that for
just a week or so ago. That one who was born in Bethlehem,
and his birth was announced by the angels, and that star led
the wise men to where our Lord Jesus lay. That man who walked
this earth for 33 years, that man who was crucified outside
Jerusalem over 2,000 years ago, that same
one who rose victorious over the grave, And after his resurrection,
appeared to his disciples for 40 days. And then they watched
him ascend in a cloud. And this angel said, just like
you see him go up, you'll see him come back. And I'll tell you what, this
was none other than the Lord of glory that was in this world.
Paul called him the great God and our savior, Jesus Christ.
And may the Holy Ghost open our hearts today and teach us some
things about Christ, open our understandings. But the key to
these scriptures, the key to this Bible, the key to this book
or any book, lays over the door always, and that's the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself. He's the key. He told our Lord,
told a bunch one time, said, you've taken away the key. You've
taken away the key. The key lays out over the door
and I want to notice a few things It says now in the beginning
was the Word the Word was with God the Word was God The same
was in the beginning with God and all things were made by him
and without him was not anything made that was made in him was
life and the life was the light of men and the light shineth
in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not and Now I
want to show you some things about our Lord Jesus Christ out
of this thing. And His relation to some things.
Now look at our Lord Jesus Christ, the relation of our Lord Jesus
to time. Look what it says right there
in the very beginning. In the beginning. What's our Lord Jesus'
relation to time? In the beginning. In the beginning. That means
He's eternal. In the beginning. He's eternal. And I tell you what, and we'll
deal with the beginning here in a minute. But I tell you what,
that tells us that in the beginning, He always was. And look what
our relationship, the relation of our Lord Jesus Christ to the
Godhead. It says down there, and the Word
was with God. Our Lord Jesus Christ's relation
to the Godhead is He's with God. With God. In the beginning, He
was with God. And that means that he's one
of the Holy Trinity. If he was with God, he's as much
God as God the Father and God the Holy Ghost. He's God. He's one of the Holy Trinity.
And so in relation to the Godhead, he's with God. And then the relationship
to our Lord Jesus Christ of the Holy Trinity says, and the Word
was God. The Word was God. Not only was
He in the beginning, not only was He with God, but beloved,
the Word was God. And as far as His relationship
to the Holy Trinity, He was with God and He was God. He's the
Word, as the Word of God, He's the revealer. He's the one that
makes things known in this world. And look what else about the
relation of our Lord Jesus Christ to the universe. It says in verse
3, to this universe and creation, all things that were made were
made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made. All things were made by Him.
He's the Creator. So in the beginning as relation
to time, He's in the beginning. Relation to God, He was with
God. Relation to the Trinity, He was
the Word, was God. Relation to the universe, all
things were made by Him. He's before all things and by
Him all things that were made, were made. He's the Creator.
Colossians says, you know that That our Lord Jesus Christ, by
Him, were all things created. That in heaven and earth, whether
you can see Him or whether you can't see Him, whether they be
thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, He's before all things.
And by Him, everything consists. That's what I say. If we don't
see Him, we ain't seen nothing. And I tell you, then look at
His relationship to men. And verse 4, in him was life,
and the life was the light of men. If there's any light that
a person has in this world, he's their light. If you see anything
in this world, if you see anything about God, if you see anything
about Christ, if you see anything about the Scriptures, our Lord
Jesus Christ is that light. He's that light. He said He was
the light of the world. And then look at the relation
of our Lord Jesus Christ to John the Baptist in verse 6. There was a man sent from God.
And a man ain't no sense going if God don't send him. And this
man's name was John. His first cousin to our Lord
Jesus Christ. The same came for a witness.
To bear witness of what? That light. that all through him might believe. He was not that light, but was
sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light
which lighteth every man that cometh into this world. And what
is his relation to John the Baptist to Christ? He was witness of
the glory, of the power, of the majesty, and the life, and the
light, and the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. He said, He must
increase and I must decrease. Are you that Christ? No! I just
was sent to bear witness of Him. Are you that prophet? No. I was
just sent to bear witness of Him that's to come. He's mightier
than I. He's before me. I'm not even
worthy to bow down and loose the slatchet off of His shoe.
And then look how this world received our Lord Jesus Christ
in verse 10. He was in the world. That one
that was in the beginning, that one that was with God, that one
who was God, that one who made all things, that one who's the
light of the world. It says the world that He made
and the world where He was in the world and the world was made
by Him. And look what it says, and the world didn't know Him.
The world knew Him not. The Creator came down and if
our Lord Jesus Christ came in the average service, Most folks
still would not know Him not. And the only way you can know
Him is for Him to make Himself known to you. And the only way
He can be known to you is for somebody like John sent from
God to bear true witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if that's
all we're supposed to do is bear witness of him. And then look
what he says. And then he came on to his own
and his own received him not. He came to a Jewish nation. He
came, they was told he was going to come. They told when he would
be here. They told where he'd be born. They told how he would be born.
And everything there was about Christ was already known. And
they was watching for him. And then when he came, they didn't
know him. They didn't know him. They didn't
know him. And then look what it says also
about him there in verse 12. But there are some that did receive
him, but as many as received him, now watch this, to them
gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on the name. Why did they receive him? because
they were born not of the blood, not of the will of flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God. That's why we receive it, because
we were born of God. We were born of God. Now let's
go back over these verses and say a few things about it. That's
my little outline. Look what it says in the beginning. In the beginning. Talking about
our Lord. Now, there are several beginnings
in the New Testament. several beginnings. Our Lord
Jesus Christ says that there'd be such troubles that's never
been known since the beginning of the world. And Luke says there
was the beginning of the gospel. And our Lord Jesus Christ says
there would be a beginning of sorrows. And then in John 2 it
says, Thy Lord Jesus, that was the beginning of His miracles.
But the beginning here in verse 1 is the beginning before all
other beginnings ever were. There's always a beginning before
any other beginning. It precedes the making of all
things. and when it says it is the beginning
of creation the beginning of time now I don't know how old
this earth is I don't have a clue I know it was here a long time
and then God took the world that is and began to form it and make
it the way he will to make it but this word was before all
things he's not only from the beginning but he was in the beginning
and he's the one who He's the one who, before there was a beginning,
He was before the beginning. There was no beginning until
He said, let's begin. When God said, let us, that was
the beginning. As far as, we've had lots of
beginnings in our life. We began when we were born again. That was a new life. That's a
beginning. So we've had lots of beginnings. But in the beginning,
here it goes, start back As you and I, we can't imagine how far
back. He was before creation. He was in the beginning. So if
He was in the beginning, that means He was at that beginning. He didn't have no beginning.
He was eternal. Look what our Lord said over
here in John 17.5. When we talk about Christ, these
are the things that enables us to worship Him. If He was in
the beginning, that means that He was without beginning Himself. Oh, to present Him as somebody
that God made and created and sent here and put Him in a manger
because He didn't have anything else to do and that He's done
that because He loved us so much and He couldn't do anything without
us helping Him. But I tell you, that's absolute
heresy. Our Lord Jesus Christ was without
beginning. There was no starting time for
the Lord Jesus Christ. Not as God. Oh listen, the things they say about
Him is awful. It's heresy. Our Lord Jesus Christ
to show you He was God, He was without a beginning. And if anybody
ever knocks on your door and says, listen, I'm here to give
you a watchtower and tell you all about these new holy words,
scriptures and that, the first thing you ask him, do you believe
Jesus Christ is God? If you don't believe Jesus Christ
is God, that he was without beginning, then don't even bother to ever
come back to my house again. Don't let them into your house.
Don't speak to them. Don't cast off their sister.
Say, get away! And look what our Lord said in
John 17, 5. Listen to what our Lord said.
Oh now, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, which
the glory which I had with thee, when? Before the world was. Before God said let us, Christ
was. Before there was ever nothing
but darkness upon the face of the deep, Christ was. Before God ever willed to do
anything in this world, Christ was. Oh my! None but God is eternal. then the absolute deity of our
Lord Jesus Christ here is clearly seen. Then look what it says.
In the beginning was the Word. You notice how it says was the
Word? That means that He existed, was existing before He ever came
into this world. Was. The Word was. You're talking about two acres
for the soul. Here is the beginning The beginning,
Christ in the beginning. What an anchor for my soul. That
Christ was without beginning. And that's my Savior. And that
He was. Before He became the Word, He
came into this world. He was. Oh my, what angers for
the soul. He's the second person in the
Trinity. Why is He called the Word here?
And you notice every one of those capitalized. Why is He called
the Word here? I'm going to show you. Look in
Hebrews chapter 1. Why is He called the Word here? Why is He called the Word? Look
in Hebrews chapter 1. I'll show you why. Now He's the
second person in the Trinity. God the Father God the Son, as
old as the Father, as eternal as the Father, and He was the
Word. He existed, was existing. And
why is He called the Word? Look what it says here in verse
1. who at sundry times, in all different
times, and in all kinds of different manners spake in time fast unto
the fathers, he did that by the prophets. But here in these last
days, and the last days is since Christ came into this world,
and hath in these last days spoken unto us by son. If we're gonna hear what God
has to say, it's through Christ. whom he hath appointed heir of
all things, by whom also he made the world." You see, he here
is God's final spokesman. To him all the prophets gave
witness. He's God's final spokesman. God's
not going to say anything to anybody apart from His Son. Scott said that I don't know
how many times, said God will not speak to nor be spoken to
by anybody other than through Jesus Christ. God won't hear
you. God won't receive you and God won't do anything for you
except through His Son. You want to hear from God? You're
going to have to come to Christ. You want God to do something
for you, you're going to have to come to His Son. If God's got anything
to say to you, He's going to say it to you through His Son. Ain't that right? Our Lord Jesus
said, I'm Alpha and I'm Omega, the beginning, the end, He which
was, which is, and which is to come. He's not only the Word
of God, God's final spokesman, He's the One Beloved who spells
out dead to. He's the One Beloved who comes
in here to other all that God has to say in this world. Everything God has to say, Christ
says it. That's why they ask Him, I don't know how many times,
who sent you? What have you got to say? What's your word? He
says, the words that I speak, they're not mine, but He has
to send me. I'm just telling you what I know from my Father.
And then look what it says here back over in John, verse 18.
Look here in John 1, 18. Look what it says here. No man has seen God at any time. No man. No man has seen God. God dwells in a light that no
man can approach unto. Mary is in glory right now, but
she ain't seen God yet. But I tell you who she has seen.
She's seen the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only one you can see. And look what it says here. No
man has seen God any time. Now listen to it. Now when he
talks about the only begotten, that's talking about when he
comes into time. Now the only begotten Son, which is in the
bosom of the Father, which is in the very heart of God, whom
God unbosomed Him, the Father, He hath declared. Now what does
that mean? That God, our Lord Jesus Christ,
come and made the invisible God intelligible for us. God who
dwells in the light that no man can approach to. A God that no
man has ever seen and never will see. Our Lord Jesus Christ came
in and out and declared Him, told Him out, and made Him intelligible
to us where we could ask for knowledge of Him. Now the Holy
Scriptures is the Word of God. Now as far as we know right now,
it means that the Scriptures reveal God's mind to us. The Scriptures express God's
will to us. The Scriptures makes His glory
known. The Scriptures opens His heart. And this is what our Lord
Jesus Christ has done for God and has done for us in God the
Father. Now let me tell you something
about this business here. He had told him out and he declared
it. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God
and the Word was God. Now what is a Word supposed to
do? What's the means? What's a Word
supposed to do? It says our Lord Jesus Christ
told him out, declared it. A Word is a means of manifestation. We can't read minds. I ain't
never been able to read anybody's mind. Can't even read my own
most of the time. But I can't read anybody's minds.
But I tell you how I can know what's in your mind. If you put
your thoughts into words. So words are manifestation of
what's in your mind. Words is manifestation of what
you're thinking. Words express what you're fixing
to do. And that's what it says. And
we see the unseen thoughts in your mind are manifested by words
that you speak. Huh? And Christ is the Word. And He made manifest the invisible
God. Where we can see now the fullness
of the God who had dwelt bodily were at in Christ. The will of
God, the mind of God, the thoughts of God was manifested in Christ. He come to tell us about God
and to manifest God. Tell you something else about
the Word. The Word is a means of communication. It's a means
of communication. Words give out information. Give
out information. By words we express ourselves.
By words we make our will known. By words we impart knowledge.
We read words and we learn things and we get it in our brain and
we express our will. By making our words. Words is what we use to communicate
with one another. And if you don't use words and
use words rightly, then people ain't going to know anything.
You won't know what they're thinking. You won't know what they feel.
And our Lord Jesus Christ, He came to communicate to us the
knowledge of God. The knowledge of His life. The knowledge of His love. The
knowledge of His grace. The knowledge of His power. The
knowledge of His righteousness. Everything that God willed for
us to know and communicate to us, He did through His Son. Huh? Let me tell you something else
about a word. A word is a method of revelation. It's a method
of revelation. Now, when you start talking,
the word reveals a person's intellect. You've heard that story, you
know, it's a... You know, if you're a fool, keep
your mouth shut, because if you open it up, people are going
to find out soon enough. But a word is a method, a word reveals
a person's intellect. It reveals a person's moral character.
The language that you use, the words that you use, tells us
what you know, how you think, how smart you are, your moral
character. If you use filthy language, you
ain't got no character. If you can't use words to express
yourself, then you're a dummy. If you can't use words correctly
and rightly, you know, and that's what this business of words are
a method of revelation. It reveals our wisdom. It reveals
our intellect. It reveals what we know. Well,
that's what our Lord Jesus Christ came to do. He's the revelation
of God Himself. He reveals the wisdom of God.
He revealed the attributes of God. He reveals the perfections
of God. And He did it fully. And in Christ,
nowhere else is God fully and finally told out. Now, ain't
that right? Oh, what a Savior. What a Redeemer. And then look what He says now.
Oh, He was the Word. And the beginning was the Word.
The Word is a means of manifestation, communication, revelation. And
the Word was with God. That means He was in the very
presence of God. Enoch, it says, walked with God.
We walk with God in this world now by faith, just like Enoch
did. But you and I was never in the presence of God like Christ
was. Look with me in Proverbs chapter
8. Look in Proverbs chapter 8, just a minute. Look what it says here about
our sheep. He was with God. That means He is in the presence
of God. The Word was with God. This shows that our Lord has
a separate personality. Don't say He was in God, but
He was with God. In verse 8, chapter 8, verse
22. The Lord possessed me in the
beginning of His way before His works of old. I was set up from
everlasting, from the beginning, or ever, or before ever, the
world was, the earth was. When there were no depths, there's
no depth from the heavens to the earth, no depth to the sea,
no depth and heights to the mountains, I was brought forth. When there
was no fountains of water coming up from the heaven or the earth
or nowhere else, before there was any water, He said, I was
brought forth. Before the mountains were settled,
before the hills was, I brought forth. While as yet he had not made
the earth, not made the fields, nor the highest part of the dust
of the world, when he prepared the heavens, I was there. When
he set a compass upon the face of the deep, when he established
the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when
he gave to the sea his decree, and he's talking about creation
now, he was there before everything was ever made, then he said,
I did it. And when he gave to the sea his
decree that the water should not pass his commandment, when
he appointed the foundations of the earth, I was by him. I
was by him. I was just like one brought up
with him. And he said, and every day he delighted in me because
I rejoiced before him always. He was set with God. And then
look what else it says. The word was with God and the
word was God. We'll tell you something right
here. We've said this many times. Who can tell out God but God? Who can express God but God?
Our Lord Jesus Christ not only reveals God, but God Himself
revealed in His Son. Only God can reveal God. Only
God can tell out God. Only God can manifest God. And
it says the Word was God. Oh my. And then look what it
says in verse 2. The same was in the beginning
with God. What was the same? The Word. It didn't say He began
to be with God. You see Christ isn't an ideal
or an idea that God had. Christ wasn't somebody in the
mind of God from eternity and made manifest in time. That's
heresy. Christ is as much God as the
Father and as the Holy Spirit. God. And I'll ask you a question. How can I obtain a better, a
deeper, a fuller knowledge of God Himself? You don't go out
here and study nature. Are we going to get a better,
deeper knowledge of God by prayer? By even studying the scriptures.
Lots of people study the scriptures. Me and my neighbors talking about
one of Mary's great uncles. He'd been dead years and years
and he read the Bible through twice a year for years and years
and years and years. And I asked him one day, sitting
at his porch, when he told me that, he said, I said, well,
how in the world could you read the Bible through that many times
and not be a saved man? And he didn't have any teeth,
he went, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,
I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,
I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, But he read it through years
after, so he didn't know a bit more about God after he read
it through twice a year, for year after year after year. My
neighbor stopped and asked him one time, he said, Clint, you've
read the Bible through an awful lot of times. He said, yeah,
18 years, 18 times so far. He said, have you ever found
in the scriptures where a hen ever crowed? He says, well, let
me think about that a minute. He said, no, never read where
a hen ever crowed. I don't know why I don't know
if I need a coach or not. But anyway, what I'm telling
you is that you can study the scriptures. Men go out here and get doctor's
degrees, divinity degrees, and master's degrees, and PhDs in
theology, and letters of doctors, and all that, and they study
the scriptures, and they tell you every meaning of every word,
and the Greek, and the tense, and the past, and their source,
and all that, they tell you everything. And they cannot tell you one
thing about Christ from the scriptures. So you can't Get a better knowledge
of God in prayer, studying the scriptures. If you want to get
a better knowledge, deeper knowledge, and a fuller knowledge of God,
you know what you need to study? The person and the work of our
Lord Jesus Christ. You study about Him. You read
about Him. You want to know something? It
says, Thou shalt call His name Wonderful. The mighty God. The Prince of
Peace. The Everlasting Father. The Counselor. Now you just start with that
and find out who that's talking about. You'll learn a little
about a God then. You'll learn a little about Christ.
You'll learn a little about... Read Isaiah 53 and he was wounded
for our transgression, bruised for our iniquity. Then you'll
find out Christ had a work to do and then he done that work.
You read about in the Old Testament about how God saved Abraham,
how He saved Noah, and you'll find out something about Christ's
person and work too. You read about His words and
what He said to men and women while He was on this earth. He
looked at some of them and He told Zacchaeus, He said, today
I'm going to go to your house. And salvation is coming to your
house today. He didn't ask him. He didn't
plead with him. He just said, I'm going home
with you today. And salvation is coming in here. And he turned
around and looked at another fellow and said, except you believe
I'm here, you're going to die in your sins. You're a viper.
You're a serpent. And how are you going to escape
the damnation of hell? So one, beloved, you can read
about how life is in Him and the next one you can read about
how the damnation comes out of these words too. So if you want
to learn about God and have a fuller, deeper revelation of God and
knowledge of God, there's only one way to do it. In the beginning
was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word
was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. Huh? Oh my! Christ, that's what we
got to find out about. That's who we got to learn about.
Then look in verse 3. Look in verse 3. Oh my. All things were made by Him.
When it says all things were made by Him, that means that
excludes everything else. If anything in this world was
made in the creation, even you and I, He's the one who did it. He's
the one who did it. Huh? And without Him was not
anything made that was made. There wasn't a tree made. There
wasn't a raindrop made. There wasn't a mountain made. There wasn't a river made. There
wasn't a creek made. There wasn't a fish made. There
wasn't an animal made. There wasn't a vegetable made.
There's not a mineral made. There's not a drop of gold on
this earth that Christ Himself didn't make it. Huh? And oh, listen, and look what
else is said. Oh, and that means that He's
omnipotent. And listen to this in verse 4. In Him was life. In Him was life. Now, why do
you talk about life? You know how many lives, life
there is in this world? How much life there is in this
world? Every source of life came from Christ. Every source of
life, that anything that's got life in this world, Christ gave
it to it. You know the coral in the sea,
the coral in the ocean, they protect it. They say, don't stay
off that coral, because that coral, you can kill it. It's
living. You know who gave that coral
life? Christ did. Is it sound that simple? And
if you've got life and you come from your mother's womb and you've
got life, natural life, Christ gave you that life. And He'll
give it to you as long as He intends for you to live. And
when He gets through with you in this world, He's going to
draw your last breath. In Him was life. That's a wonderful
thing, ain't it, to know that my life is not of myself. In Him we live, move, and have
our being. That He gave me life. Not only life, but then He'd
come around and gave me eternal life. Life that will never stop living.
The body will, but the blood won't. In Him is life. This is the record that God has
given us, eternal life. And this life is where we're
at? In His Son. in His Son. And not only is He
light, but He's the light of men. If you have any... Listen,
when He says light, that means that He's the one who gives you
reason. One that gives you the ability
to reason, the real ability to think. It gives you the conscience
that you have. That's what that light... He
gives you the conscience that you have. And oh, I tell you what, And
life is one of the titles of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I
tell you what, this applies. He gives man's conscience to
him. He gives man's light to him. But especially for those
who are God's elect, since the fall, when man's lost his life,
Christ comes and He gives us the light and the life, this
spiritual life. And He gives us the light of
revelation. Then look what it says in verse
5. And the light shined in darkness. A gray light shined and the light
shined in darkness. Are you talking about Man falling
in depravity and sinfulness and man's mind if Christ doesn't
come and give him life and light. And the light shined in the darkness. Shining. It didn't say shine.
It's shining. It shines right now. The light's
on right now. The light is shining right now.
And listen to this. But the darkness didn't comprehend.
Darkness didn't comprehend. Men in his darkness, men in his
depravity, men in his sinful state. Christ comes and turns
on the light and man does not see it. He just goes on about
life as if there's no light in this world whatsoever. He has
no light. And oh, the natural man ignores
the light. He's like a blind man in the
dark. Blind man in the dark. Then look what he says there
in verse 6 now. There was a man sent from God. Now we're going
to turn from the eternal word. We're going to turn from the
beginning. We're going to turn from light and life and creator.
We're going to turn now to man. And look what it says. There
was a man sent from God. And God said he named him John. That word John means gift of
God. And then what about John? He
says the same came for a witness. To witness what? To bear witness
to the light. Who needs to be told that the
light is on? Who needs to be told that the
sun is shining? People that are blind. People that are blind. How awful
man's state that God sent a man to bear witness to the light.
The light shined in darkness, and the darkness didn't see it.
Didn't comprehend it. You think man is not lost? You
think man is not depraved? You think man's understanding
is not horrible? Not despicable? That here comes
Christ, who's the light Himself, and it shined in darkness, and
the darkness didn't even understand it. He was in this world, and
the world didn't know anything about Him. And then John, he
sent a man from God, named John, and he came to say, there's a
light. There's a light over here. There's a light. And people just
looked and looked and looked. I don't see it. I don't see it.
I don't see it. Where's it at? Where's it at? Where's it at? What do I need a life for? I'm
satisfied where I am. I'm happy where I live. I'm happy
with my life. I'm happy with my condition.
I'm happy with my place in life. I'm happy with this. I don't
need a life. If you see God, you need a life.
If you see your sinfulness, you need a life. If you see the righteousness
of God, you need a life. If you see your need of salvation,
you need a life. If you're going to have any sense
at all before you go into eternity, you're going to need light. Oh, listen. Then look what else
it's saying. He came for a witness. And that's the definition of
a preacher's life. If you want to define what a
preacher's life is, he's a witness. That's all he is, he's the witness.
You know what a witness is? One who knows what he says and
only says what he knows. Ain't that right? To put you
on the stand. Don't want no heresy. Don't want
no hearsay. Don't want your opinion. Don't
know what you want to think about the situation. Just tell us what
you know. And then say only what you know. That's what God told Paul. He says, you go and tell what
you see And tell what you know, and that's all I want you to
do. And that's all we are, we're just witnesses. This is the definition
of a preacher. One who knows what he says. And
he came to bear witness of that light, we preach Christ. And
then look what it says in verse 8. Bear witness of that light
that all men might believe. See that light? Oh, I see that
light now. I believe. I believe. I'm coming
to that light. I want that light. I need that
light. I'm coming. That's what he says that men
might believe. It says he was not that light. That means we
preach not ourselves. Oh, we don't preach ourselves. He was not that light. We don't
preach ourselves. He was to bear witness of that
light. And then in verse 9 it says he
was that true light. Christ is. Christ is. That true light which lighteth
every man that cometh into the world. When he calls him the
true light, that means he's the undeceiving light. Paul called
the angels, you know, the false prophets would transform themselves
into angels of light. There's false lights. But it
says Christ is that true light. Christ is the real light. The
fulfillment of all the types and shadows. The true light,
Christ is the underrived light. He don't get light from no place
else. We have to have electric lights. We have to have, if you're
out in the dark, you have to carry a flashlight with you or
a lantern with you. And if you go anywhere, you got
to, when we're out in daylight, the sun's out. But Christ's light,
he gets it from himself. Everybody else gets light from
somewhere else. And the true light means that Christ is the
super eminent light. He's not ordinary. He's not common. It's just like the sun and the
stars. They have a different glory. Christ's light is far
above anything in this world that's ever been. And then look
what it says. He was in the world. He come
into this world. He, that God, eternal God, that
Word that made all things, created all things, uphold all things,
sustain all things, He was in the world. Come into this world. And a lot happened. The world
was made by Him. The world didn't know Him. The
world didn't know Him. The world didn't know Him. You mentioned the Lord Jesus
Christ to most people and they'll say, oh yeah, I know him. I know
him. Then start describing him out
of here and say, oh, I don't know if I know him like that
or not. And then look what he says, he came unto his own, came
to his own people, came to the Jewish nation. And they didn't
receive him. They should have just been waiting
for him. Let me show you this and I'll be done in a minute.
Look at John 6, 41, just a minute. You see he came unto his own and
his own received him not. Look at John 6.41. Look what it says here. The Jews then
murmured at him because he has said I am the bread which came
down from heaven. Now watch what they said about
him. He came unto his own and his own received him not. They
said is not this Jesus? The son of Joseph, whose father
and mother we know, how is it then that he saith, I came down
from heaven? They didn't receive him. What's he talking about? There's
no way he could have come down from heaven. There's his mama,
there's his daddy. We know them. We know he was born like everybody
else was. What do you mean he came down from heaven? And then look over here in verse
12, back in our text, and I'll wind it up. Look what it says
here. But as many, always all received
Him not, all they saw was somebody in the flesh. But as many as
received Him, to them. Now when we talk about
receiving Christ, I've been telling you about Him this morning. Do
you receive that about Him? Those truths about Him? Do you
believe those? When it says receive, it means to believe, to accept,
to say this is mine, this is true, this is real. receive it
into yourself. And then look what it says, to
them gave you the power or the privilege to become sons of God. Now, you don't get that power
to become a son of God by your free will. You don't get that by your intellect.
You don't get that by your nature. If you become a sons of God,
even to them that believe on his name, this is how it becomes,
which were born. You got to be born again. Got
to have new life. The Spirit of God's got to come.
And He's got to give you that which were born. Not of blood. Your daddy may be a preacher.
I'm a preacher. And not one of my children's converted. There's
little Riley sitting right there. Bless her heart and I love her.
She's my baby. Five years old. Sitting right
where her nanny sat. Wouldn't it be something if the
Lord raises her up and makes Christ manifest to her and knows
her? And gives her, because she's blood of my blood, but that has
nothing to do with it. Nor the will of the flesh. My
flesh would will for her to be saved. My flesh would will for
my son to be saved. My daughter to be saved. My two
grandsons to be saved. Oh, my flesh wills it. Oh, I
want it to happen so. And the will of man. Oh, if I
could will it. How many would you have your
children converted today if you had the will? How many of you
would have your husbands saved today? If you had the will. How
many of you would have your wives saved today? If you had the will. If you had the will. We've got
the will. But salvation is not by our will.
It's not of him that willeth. It's not of him that runneth.
But it's of God that showeth mercy. Which were born. But they were born of God. Oh
my. There will always be a people
who will receive Christ. There will always be a people
who will believe on the name of Christ. You know why? Because
as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. I'm going to show
you three knots here real quick and then I'm done. Now I hope
you're not in one of these knots here. I hope you're not in one
of them. Look what it says back up in verse 5. The light shined
in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. I hope you're
not in that darkness that you don't comprehend it not. Then
look down at verse 10. He was in the world, the world
was made by him, and the world knew him not. I hope you're not
in that world that knew him not. And then look what it says in
verse 11. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Don't be one of those nots. Don't be one of those nots. Don't
do that. Don't do that. Don't be a knot.
Don't be a knot. Be one of those as many as. Be
one of those as many as. Oh, our Father, in the blessed,
blessed name of our Lord Jesus Christ, thank You for Yourself. Thank You for Your Word. Thank
you for the revelation. Thank you for the light. Thank
you for the life. And oh Lord, may it be made manifest
all to the Holy Spirit. Take these things of Christ and
make them known. Make them known. Only you can. And I ask that you will. In our
Lord Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Amen. I need Thee every hour Most gracious
Lord O make me Thine indeed I need Thee, O I need Thee Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I belong to Thee