I wish you all could have my
seat right here, listening to you sing. You know, people in
them big churches, they have chorus practice and all that
stuff, without any practice, singing from the heart. It's
mighty good. It's mighty good. For our last
speaker this evening, Pastor David Edmondson, pastor of the
Bible Baptist Church in Madisonville, Kentucky. Isaac and I were sitting
up here talking, and this is what we determined, that the
hallmark of David's preaching is clarity. And Isaac reminded
me, he said, you often say this about David, now you listen to
him. You may not believe what he's saying, but you're gonna
understand it. And I pray God will make us believe it. All
right, David, you come bring the message God's giving you. Good evening, everybody. Frank called me and told me that
Chris wasn't going to be able to make it. He asked me, I was
supposed to go first tonight, and he asked me if I minded going
second. I do now. So I'm going to preach Frank's
message from a different text. And tomorrow, you're going to
preach the same message from a different text. As Frank said,
it's the same message. Christ. Christ. Turn with me
to John 1, please. Let me say while you're turning
that Jesus Christ and the Word of God are synonymous. Jesus Christ is the Word of God.
And the Word of God is Jesus Christ. The first words of the scriptures
are, in the beginning, God. You know, that should tell us
a great deal right there. If we could really grasp a hold
of that, those words, in the beginning, God, we could go home
right now, rejoice. In the beginning, God. You know,
I remember as a young boy going out under a tree there at my
house looking up into the sky and considering God. I'd heard
something about God. Not true. But I would often think
to myself, where did God come from? Did you ever do that as
a young child? You know, you get to thinking,
where did God come from? Who made God? How did God come
to be? Well, God is I am. Ever-present. God's always been. Now, can I understand that? Can you understand that? No,
but we don't need a God we can understand. We just need God. We need a God that can save us,
as Frank said. We need a God that will forgive
us. I need forgiveness. I need a God that will forgive
me, who can forgive me justly. I need a perfect righteousness.
Not just an improvement. I need a perfect righteousness
because God requires perfection. And I can't provide it. He's
got to provide it for me. See, it's the same message. We
need a substitute. We need a sacrifice. We need
a Savior. We just need God. In the beginning,
before the beginning. In the beginning, God. In the beginning, God created.
You know, I looked up that word in my concordance. The word created
means choose. It means other things too, but
it means to choose. In the beginning, God created,
God chose, God determined and purposed. God did. In the beginning,
God. God brought life into a state
of being. There was no need for life until
God determined that He was light and life in and of Himself. God
happily existed in His own light and life. In the beginning, God. And the heavens and the earth
were without form, void, and darkness was upon the face of
the deep. You know, without form means
desolate and waste. Void means worthless, useless,
empty, void of life. Nothing but darkness was there
when God spoke the world into existence. Darkness means that
there's absence of life. And it was present, and it was
deep. And what a picture that is of
us by nature. My, my, before God chose to give
us life, before He had mercy on us in time and saved us by
His grace, God said, let there be light. And there was light. And it's no different with that
darkness within our hearts. It takes the same power of God
to bring light to this cold, dead heart as it did to create
the world. In the beginning, God. God. Have you ever thought about the
word bird? A word is an expression of thought. We express to others
what we're thinking with words. We express our thoughts with
words. So does God. And God said, and there was.
God said, and there was. Words are how we express ourselves. God's first words of expression
here were, in the beginning, God. I'm God. You're not. John 1. Verse 1. In the beginning was. Always
was. Self-existent. Full of life. Life was in Him. He was life.
In the beginning was the Word. What is the Word? No. The question
is who is the Word? John tells us the Word was with
God. The word with means within. I thought that was beautiful. Within means one with. In the
beginning was the self existing one, the one who was full of
life, full of light. And he was with God and he was
God. He didn't become God. The Word
was God. The Word was always God. The
Word was always within God. Because the Word was God. This
is talking about the same God Genesis 1 is talking about. God,
in the beginning, was the self-existent One, full of life. He was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And because the Word was God,
We have hope. We have hope because we have
His Word. I am convinced, dear friends, that this is the most
valuable possession that any of us have. I was in a dollar
store, Dollar Tree or one of those stores. I like those stores.
I can afford some of the stuff I got. But they had a Bible. You could buy a Bible, Old Testament
and New Testament. King James Version for I think
$1.25. I thought, what a bargain. And I'm not trying to be cute.
What a bargain to have the Word of Life. It'll not cost you but
$1.25, monetarily speaking. This is the most valuable thing
we have. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And you've got
it right there in your lap, Marvin. My, my. Verse 2, the same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him. and without Him was not anything
made that was made. The Holy Spirit there is making
sure that we know that Jesus Christ is God. He's the Creator. He made it all. Nothing was made
that He didn't make. He was in the beginning with
God and He was God. In the beginning, God. Who was
in the beginning with God? Jesus Christ. Who made all things? Jesus Christ. Was there anything
made that He didn't make? No. Where is life and life found? In Jesus Christ. He was in the
beginning, He was with God, and He was God. So without a doubt,
Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is not from the
beginning. Jesus Christ is the beginning.
Jesus Christ is not in time. Time is in Him. In John 17, verse
5, the Lord Jesus in His high priestly prayer said, O Father,
glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory which I
had with Thee before the world was. Jesus Christ is God. In the beginning, God. In the
beginning, Jesus Christ. The writer of Hebrews penned,
God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time
passed under unto the father by the prophets. But God doesn't
speak to us that way anymore. How does God speak to us now?
Through this Word. Through Jesus Christ, who is
the Word. God hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son,
whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made
the worlds. Same God. Same God. I think sometimes we're programmed
to think that Jesus Christ is lesser than God. No. Jesus Christ is God. God the
Father is God. The Holy Spirit is God. And He
speaks to us today by His Son through this word, who being
the brightness of His glory, now this is God's description
of His Son, who being the brightness of His glory and the express
image of His person and upholding all things by the word of His
power. When He had by Himself, who's
that talking about? Jesus Christ. who by Himself
purged our sins. And He sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on high." He sat down there because His
work's finished. Nothing else to do. Now we can
see it. There wasn't any seats in the
old tabernacle. Their work was never finished.
But His work's finished. And He sat down. In the beginning,
God. And God's sitting on His throne.
Ruling and reigning. having His way. Oh, don't you
love it? Jesus Christ is our Savior. He's our representative. He's
our sign. That word express or expression
means to represent by sign. I thought even Webster's dictionary
points to Christ sometimes. He's our representative. He's
our son. Where is He now? He's sitting on the right hand
of God. The place of power and authority. That's the right hand
of God on the majesty on high. And listen, it's all concerning
Him. I think I may have told you this
before. Forgive me if I have, but I have a cousin who works
in real estate and one of the men in our church is a contractor.
And she said, oh, what did David Lee preach on Sunday? That's
what my family called me, David Lee. Don't you call me that. And he said he preached the same
message he preached every Sunday. And she goes, oh, I'm so sorry.
But you understand why she thought that? He preaches the same message
every Sunday? Well, he ought to be getting
good at it by now. No, it's the same message. You're
going to hear the same message You're going to hear some wonderful
messages of God's mercy and grace this weekend. And if they're
all concerning Him, they're going to be great messages. I can tell
you that. Beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things
concerning Him. Beginning at Moses, He began to show us in the creation
who He was. what He'd done for dark, void,
formless sinners. Oh my. Paul tells us unequivocally
that the grace of the Gospel of God promised aforetime by
His prophets in the Holy Scriptures is concerning His Son Jesus Christ. The Word of God's not about what
men have done for God. That's all I heard all my life. And I never could do enough?
And I never got any comfort? And when I got old enough, my
parents couldn't physically make me go to church at about 10. I quit going because I had no
fear of God. Not the God they told me about.
It's different today. It's different today. And it's
He who made the difference. It's not about what we do for
God. My church has done this. My church has done that. Well,
I tell you, it's a good thing. Because your God is weak, and
He's pathetic, and He's helpless, and He can't save you apart from
your will. And you need a God who can do
something for you. In the beginning, God. My God. The God of the Bible. The King of kings and the Lord
of lords. God who saves whom He will. And
those that He makes willing will be saved, and they'll be always
saved. Always saved. Look down at verse
12. But as many as received Him,
to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on His name. See, preacher, you've got to
receive Him. You've got to accept Jesus. That's not what that means.
No. That means we've got to bow to
Him. To receive Him is not to accept Him or reject Him. We
don't try on Christ like we do a new pair of shoes. Our receiving
Christ is not the reason we become sons and daughters of God. This
religious world has got it backwards. I've gotten some great gospel
outlines listening to freewill speakers because you just preach
the opposite of what they preach. Pretty much. I'm not trying to
bash religion. It's just a fact. It's by the
power, the right, the privilege that God gave to us that enables
us to receive. It enables us to believe. That's
what saves us. God's life-giving power. Because
in the beginning, God... That's what we see in the next
verse. Verse 13. "...which were born..." Talking
about sinners. Saved sinners. Chosen sinners.
"...which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God." Same God. Same God that
was in the beginning. Same God that spoke the worlds
into existence. The same God that said, let there
be and there was. Lazarus come forth and he that
was dead came forth. Same God. Same God. In the beginning, before time,
before creation, before the worlds were ever framed, in a time before
time, from the foundation of the world, there was the Word
of God. And that Word was and still is
Jesus Christ. And He'll always be. He'll always
be. The Word Christ is an expression
of God. The Word, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is the revelation of God. We cannot know God except through
Christ, this Word. That's just a fact. We cannot
know God but in and by and through Jesus Christ. He's the brightness
of God's glory. And He's the express image of
His person. I had a man recently tell me
that, he said, the word Trinity's not in the Bible. And I said,
no, but the triune one is. The Bible's all about Him. That's
why it's so precious. That's why it's so valuable.
The Lord our God is one God. God in three persons, the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. When God created this world,
remember what He said when it came to man? He said, let us
make man. Who is He talking to? God in
three persons. There are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. When our
Lord sent His disciples out to preach, He told them, He said,
make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. So there can be no denying that
God is in three persons. We don't have three gods. We
have one God, and God is revealed as the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. And the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, and God the Son,
No less God. He Himself said, I and my Father
are one. In John 14, verse 8, Philip said
to the Lord, show us the Father. Do you remember what the Lord
said? Philip, I've been with you so
long. You know, sometimes I look at me and I look around me and
I think, have you been with the Lord so long? And you don't know
who He is. He said, He that has seen me
has seen the Father. but one and the same, Marvin.
Matthew 1, we're told in verse 23, Behold, a virgin shall be
with child, and shall bring forth a child, and they shall call
His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Oh, He's God with us. God came
and did for me what I couldn't do for myself. That's how horrific
my sin was. It took God to put it away. And Jesus Christ is God. And
in the beginning, God. And God is still God today. And
He's still saving sinners. You know how I know? The sun
came up this morning. And if it comes up tomorrow,
He's still got sinners to save. God. Man can't reveal God. Only
God can reveal God. God the Son reveals God the Father. And God the Father reveals God
the Son. God revealing God. Boy, isn't
that a mystery? And this is how we learn of God
and His Son, through the Word of God. The Lord Jesus said,
all things are delivered unto Me of My Father, and no man knoweth
who the Son is but the Father, and who the Father is but the
Son, and He to whom the Son will reveal Him. God gives witness
to His Son, His Son gives witness to Him, and by grace and mercy
through Christ's precious blood, He reveals it to His people. I'm gonna bring it to the foe.
Same foe, same shepherd. Oh my God, revealing God. Galatians 1 verse 15, but when
it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by His grace. And if you've been called by
His grace, you were separated from your mother's womb before
you was ever born, before you did any good or evil, that the
purpose of God, according to election, might stand. Who does
the saving? God does the saving. In the beginning,
God. He's the only one that can save.
As Frank so ably said. And it wasn't flesh and blood
that revealed Christ to us. It wasn't the preacher. It wasn't
the church. We conferred not with flesh and
blood, the apostles said, but when it pleased God, God revealed
Christ to us. That's the only way it's ever
revealed is in Christ. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Had to be to save me. He took
on Himself the form of a servant. He was made in the likeness of
sinful flesh, but He wasn't anything like us. Not without sin. In Him was light and life. In
us, darkness and deadness. Just the opposite. But God chose
to bring life into existence. And only God could do what He
did and does for us. Man can suffer, but it can't
satisfy. And man can sin, but he can't
produce righteousness. And he can die, but he can't give
himself life. But Christ can. And Christ did. In the beginning, God. Christ is divine and He's human.
He's God and He's man. He's the God-man. Do you understand
that? No, it's past understanding. Past understanding. Do you believe
it? Absolutely with all my heart.
How do you know it's true? God revealed it to me. Look at verse 4 here in John
chapter 1. In Him was life. Isn't the scripture
just so simple and plain? In Him was life. There's no life
anywhere else. in Jesus Christ their life. He's
the resurrection and the life. He's spiritual life. All spiritual
life is in Him. Life is in Him, from Him, and
because of Him. He's the life giver. In Him,
we do what? Live. In Him, we do what? We move. In Him, we do what? We have our being. It's all in
Him. Hannah said that our Lord was
the giver and taker of life. The Lord killeth and maketh alive.
He brings down to the grave and bringeth up. He makes poor and
makes rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up. He lifts the poor from the dust. He lifts the beggar up from the
dunghill. You know what a dunghill is.
That's where we were. Worse. He sets them among princes. He makes sinners to inherit our
own glory. He makes us to. Gently makes us. And love makes
us. And mercy and grace makes us. keeps the feet of his saints
and the wicked shall be in silence. Job said, in whose hand is the
soul and breath of every living creature. There are men that
carry on a life day in and day out, don't give God a thought.
And it's he that gives them the next breath from their lungs
and the next beat from their heart. Speaking of Himself, God said,
I kill and I make alive. He said, I wound and I heal.
I, the Lord, do all these things. People say, well, your God's
my devil. You better get ready to deal with the devil. He's
God Almighty. If He's your devil, oh my. Well, what about me? What must
I do to be saved? You know, that question's asked
a lot in the Scriptures. What must I do to be saved? Nothing
you can do. The Lord answered that. He said,
without Me, you can do nothing. Now, let me ask you. What can
you do if you can't do nothing? I mean, really. You can't do
nothing. Why do you keep trying? What can you do when you can't
do nothing? Sounds like a country song, doesn't it? Daniel 4.35,
all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as what? Nothing.
And He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven and
among the inhabitants of the earth. You quoted this, and none
can stay His hand. You can't put God in handcuffs. None can stay His hand. None
can say unto Him, what are You doing? You can't question God.
In the beginning, God. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God and the Word was God. He's the Creator. Jesus Christ
is not a lesser form of God. He's God. In Him was life. And
when you put a seed into the ground, what makes it grow? You
can say the sun and the water. Yeah, all those things. But you
know what makes it grow? Life. Who gives it life? The only one that can. In the
beginning, God. What is life? It's the light
of man. It's the revelation of life in Christ. Life is the revelation,
the light of Jesus Christ. You can't account for life any
other way. In Him is life. Not in Him and
you with a cooperative effort. In Him is life. It's His to give. And you won't get it if He doesn't
give it to you. Do you want it? He makes you
willing in the day of His power. What a God. What a God. Jesus Christ is the Word, the
expression, the revelation of God. This light of the life shines
in our darkness and we don't comprehend it. We can't comprehend
it. What can a dead man or woman comprehend? And the light shineth
in the darkness. and the darkness comprehended
it not. And verse 9 says, this is the light. Did you notice
that's capital? Which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world. And you know that's not every
man in the world without exception. Well, I'll get ahead of myself. Jesus Christ was in the beginning.
Jesus Christ was with God. Jesus Christ was God. I intend
to be redundant. Todd told me one time is preaching
and I can't tell right but it's telling what you know and then
telling again what you know and what is it thought Put you on
the spot That's what preaching in that's
why when you go back home you're gonna preach this message or
another text and We can't understand to comprehend
God. Jesus Christ gives light to every man in the world, not
the whole world, but every man who believes. You know, it's
amazing to me that religion uses John 3.16 to try to convince
people that Jesus Christ died for everyone in the whole world,
when it proves actually the opposite. You ever really thought about
it? For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son, now listen, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting
life. If you don't believe in Him,
if you don't believe in Christ, you're going to perish. And if
you don't believe in Him, there is no everlasting life. And this
is truly amazing. This is amazing grace. This is the cause and the proof
of life. Look at verse 14. And the Word,
Jesus Christ, who was in the beginning with God and was Himself
God, was made flesh and dwelt among us. Almighty God became
a man. Bone of our bone, flesh of our
flesh. And we beheld His glory as the
glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth. Verse six, there was a man sent
from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness,
to bear witness of the light, capital L, bear witness of Christ,
that all men through him might believe. He was not that light,
not John, not John the Baptist, but was sent to bear witness
of that light. John was not the light, he came
to bear witness, to point to that light. And that's what he
did. What did John say when the light
came? He said, Behold the Lamb of God. That's who this is. He's the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of His people in this world. Look at verse 35. Again, the next day, after John
stood and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as He
walked, He saith, Behold the Lamb of God. John bore witness
to who Christ was. And what was his testimony? This
is the Lamb of God. This is Him. This is the one
that Moses told you that was coming. This is one that the
prophets told you was going to come and save His people from
their sin. This is who the Psalms are talking
about. This is Jesus Christ. In the beginning, God. In the
beginning was the Word. And that's our only hope that
He became a man. That's what John's bearing witness
of. And God the Father also bore witness of it. He said, there lo a voice from
heaven saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased.
I accept His finished work. And you and I are accepted in
Him. Chapter 5 verse 36, but I have
a greater witness than that of John that the Lord himself said
he gave witness of himself He said for the works which the
father had given me to finish the same works that I do bear
Witness of me that the father has sent me This is the one that's
coming and he's come and the father himself which hath sent
me hath borne witness of me now look at verse 12 Once again here
in John chapter 1 but as many as received Him, to them gave
He power." Again, the right, the privilege. "...to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, which
were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God." You know, there are some who
hear the gospel and believe the gospel. And it doesn't matter
Jew or Gentile, male or female, bond or free, young or old, they
believe Him, they receive Him, they rest in Him. Are you resting? There's no place else to rest.
This is a bed you can stretch out on. This is a cover that
you can cover yourself up in. These are the ones whom God gave
to Christ before the foundation of the world, and every one of
them will hear His voice. In John chapter 10, the Lord
said, I'm the good shepherd, I know my sheep, I'm known to
mine, and as the Father knoweth me, even so I know the Father,
and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have,
which are not of this folk. And them also I must bring. He
must, and they're all gonna come, every single one of them. Therefore
doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might
take it again." No man taketh it from me. But I lay it down
to myself. I've got power to lay it down.
And I have power to take it again. And this commandment have I received
of my Father. Friends, Christ is the only one
who can give Himself life. And you and I weren't born of
blood. Not of heredity, ancestry, or natural genealogy. This is not a fleshly thing.
This is a spiritual birth. This is a new birth. Nicodemus
was a bright man. He said, how do I enter into
my mother's womb a second time? It's not talking about fleshly
things. It's talking about spiritual birth. It's talking about being
adopted into the kingdom of God's Son. About becoming a joint heir
with Him in all things. In the beginning, God. And in
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. We weren't born of the will of
man. That's somebody else's will. Now listen. Grandmother cannot
save you. She would if she could. But she
can't save you. God's people are born of God. The God who was in the beginning.
The God whom the Word of God reveals. The God who reveals
you to you, who and what you are. As Frank said, In the beginning
was the God that was. God created, He chose to bring
life into being. God chose, God purposed, and
I love this verse, and it pleased God to make you who believe His
people. And He'll not forsake them for
His own great namesake. You know what that means? That
means no matter what I do, He's not going to forsake me if I'm
in Christ. He's forgiven all my sin, past, present, and future. Every single bit of it. I can't
be held responsible for the sin I don't have. And neither can
you. God was manifested in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory.
God received Him up into glory because, again for the third
time, because He accepted His finished work, and He accepts
His Beloved, and He accepts us in the Beloved. That's the Gospel. God doing for me what I can't
do for myself. Now, the question is, do you
believe in this God? In the beginning God, that's
the God I'm talking about. To whom God would make known
the riches of the glory, not ours. We don't have any glory. What did we do to receive any
glory in our salvation? Not a thing, not a single thing. We get no glory. Christ's glory
among the Gentiles, which is ever present, always existing.
What is it? Christ in you, the hope of glory.
See, I told you I was pretty much preaching your message. Well, I hope the next time that
we read Genesis 1, in the beginning, God, and John 1, 1, in the beginning
was the Word, that we'll know who God is. I haven't been pastoring
long. Fifteen years from my age. That's
not very long. But I can remember struggling
in the time past about when does a small person understand the
Gospel well enough? Is there an age? And you always
struggle with that. I remember telling Cody Groover
one time about that. He said, well, I had a young
girl come to me about nine, and tell me she wanted to be baptized.
I said, what did you do? He said, I baptized her. And
I said, well, why? And he goes, because I asked
her why she wanted to be baptized. And she said, because I see that
Jesus Christ is God. Fill up the water. Do you believe
Jesus Christ is God? He's the only one that can save
you. David asked a real good question
a few minutes ago. Did you catch it? He said, are
you resting? I was, because he told me who
God is. Just hearing who God is, that
made me rest. Rest in him. Oh, thank you for
that, David. I hope tomorrow morning you all
come back, 10 o'clock, roll Browning. will bring the message for us,
and when he's done, Todd Nyberg will bring the message for us.
We'll have some to eat and sit around and talk a little bit,
and there's gonna be a time of fellowship at Simpson Valley
tomorrow evening at five o'clock, and you're all invited. So thankful
for this evening. And I'm already looking forward
to tomorrow morning. I just can't wait. But we'll thank God. Let's
bow together in prayer. Our Father, how can we even begin
to thank you for the gospel of your dear son, that you've allowed
us to hear it tonight, that you've allowed us to sit at your feet
and worship. Father, I beg of you that you
would apply your word to each heart here this evening. Father,
enable us to believe. Give us that right, that privilege
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. and to rest in Him. Father, I know we ask a great
thing that you would be pleased to save all of us. It's a great
thing. It's a great thing you'd be pleased
to save anyone. But Father, we ask that you do
it for your glory, that you get glory to yourself in saving your
people and keeping them causing them to grow in grace by the
preaching of Christ and him crucified. Father, it's in his name. For
his sake, we pray. Amen. All right, Isaac can lead
us in closing hymn, if you will.