Is that right? 517 on Jordan's
Stormy Banks. On Jordan's Stormy Banks I stand
and cast a wishful eye To Canaan's fair and happy land, where my
possessions lie. I am bound for the promised land. I am bound for the promised land. Oh, who will come and go with
me? I am bound for the promised land. Yeah. Extended plain shines long eternal
day. There God the sun forever reigns
and scatters night away. I am bound for the promised land. I am bound for the promised land. Oh, who will come and go with
me? I am bound for the promised land. No chilling winds, no poisonous
breath can reach that healthful shore. Sickness and sorrow, pain
and death are felt. I am bound for the promised land. I am bound for the promised land. Oh, who will come and go with
me? I am bound for the promised land. When shall I reach that happy
place and be forever blessed? When shall I see my father's
face and in his bosom rest? I am bound for the promised land. for the promised land. Oh, who will come and go with
me? I am bound for the promised land. Every time I sing that song,
I think Moses speaking to his father-in-law as they lit out. He told him, he says, come thou
with us. We will do thee good. Come thou found, hymn number
17. A mouth out of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never cease. for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet
sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon
it, mount of thy redeeming love. Here I raise my living knees,
hither by thy help I've come. And I hope by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger of God. He, to rescue me from
danger, interposed His precious blood. Oh, to grace how great
a debtor daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness, like
a fetter, Find my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord,
I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, oh, take and
seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. you have your Bible's term, read
the Gospel according to John. I'm going to read one verse of
Scripture. Verse 1. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Let us pray. Our Father, we are astounded
at the clarity of this word and this glorious record that John
has set forth in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Plainer words cannot be spoken
than these. We rejoice to know that this
is so. We are thankful that you have,
by your grace, through your word, introduced us to your blessed
son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is very God of very God, who is the King of kings and
the Lord of lords. Father, we pray that our hearts
might be knit together with him, our thoughts and minds might
be upon him, We can say with David, who have I in heaven but
Thee? And who on earth beside Thee? Help us, Father, to worship Him. Father, we pray for those who
are sick. There's Miss Ashenfelter's family,
the loss of her. there in Oklahoma, we pray you'd
be with them. For Brother Larry Brown's family,
the lost Brother Larry, we're thankful that his days of suffering
are over and he's been ushered into the presence of Jesus Christ. There to behold his face, to
hear the angels singing the ever-present gospel for all eternity, to be
like him for he shall see him as he is. We pray for Carla Henson that
she's awaiting further word on what's next for her. Her prognosis
is not good, but she sees it as the gift of God. that he has
visited her with this particular tribulation for her good and
for his glory. We thank you for that testimony. Pray for the others who requested
prayer. Pray for Sister Teresa. She's
preparing for this operation. We pray you be with those doctors
and give them great skill. Pray for Stan as he attends to Thank you for bringing those
who are away from us safely home. Help us tonight to think on the
things of Christ, for he's worthy of all praise and honor and glory,
because he alone, by himself, hung on that tree 2,000 years
ago and suffered the punishment that was due us for our sins.
and died to death that we owe you for our sins. And made it
so that we stand accepted in your presence, and made it so
that you will just to justify us and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Help us tonight, Father. Be with
us, we pray, by Thy Spirit, through Your Word. In Christ's name,
amen. Well, I've been here for 46 years
and I've never done an exposition of one of the Gospels. I just
realized that. I've preached from all of them
numerous times, but never done an exposition, a Wednesday night
study. And that's what we're going to
get in tonight. We're going to look at, get a study on the Gospel
according to John. The Gospel according to John
is a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. In his particular character,
it's the Son of God. and God indeed. Matthew sets
him forth as king, Mark sets him forth as a servant, and Luke
sets him forth as the son of man, but John sets him forth
as the son of God. John does not deal with the birth
of the Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel he reports, as does Matthew
and Luke. Mark deals with the beginning
of Christ's ministry when he was 30 years old and began to
preach the kingdom. John begins in the beginning
with the Lord Jesus Christ, all the way back to where everything
started, and asserts Christ's eternality as the Son of God
and also His absolute deity. Like no other of the apostles,
John speaks a great deal about love. when our Lord said to his disciples,
and John recorded it in the 14th chapter of this book, men shall
know that you are my disciples because you love one another.
And it appears that John took it seriously. And so much of
his epistles, the three epistles he wrote, have to do with loving
the brethren and loving Christ. He's called the beloved disciple.
He even refers to himself as the one who loved Jesus Christ. He talks about loving each other,
loving Christ, being loved by Christ, and he gets into specifics
concerning the success of Christ's work in this book, perhaps in
no other of the Gospels, so plainly sets forth the glorious accomplishment
of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's tree and the salvation of all
His people. He sets forth Christ as the sovereign
Savior of men and one with God. He records how Christ revealed
the giving of His Spirit and the work of the Spirit in the
world. He records many of the dialogues that Christ had with
the Pharisees and the way our Lord handled unbelievers. John
records much about John the Baptist in his ministry concerning Christ. And this account of Christ has
been called a theological masterpiece for so much is covered. It reveals
the Trinity in specific language and is honest about the strengths
and weaknesses of the disciples and the inability of man to come
to Christ by his own will. All these are covered in John
and much, much more. He records that Christ was revealed
in the Old Testament and understood it to be so by the elect. I thought about him. This book
was probably written about a hundred years after Christ was born.
So were all the others written about this time. Some say this
book actually was written after the revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ on the Isle of Patmos. The exact time, however, is not
known. But John faithfully records Christ's
words and what Christ said in this book, and doesn't rely on
any epistles that already existed. He speaks as Christ spoke. When
Christ said, thus saith the Lord, or it is written, he was talking
about the Old Testament word. The richness of this account
has enthralled men for ages, and the strength of the narrative
never wanes. Perhaps the final words of this
writer sums it all up in chapter 21, he says, and there are also
many other things which Christ did, the which, if they should
be written, every one, I suppose that even the world itself could
not contain the books that should be written. This is how much
he's talking about in this epistle, this gospel that he's set forth. What I quoted to you and read
to you tonight was verse one of this text, which sets everything
in order. It sets the tone and the subject
matter for the entire book. The first three words ties this
account to the creation of the world and all that is therein,
in the beginning. same words as how this Bible
begins in Genesis chapter 1 in the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth in the beginning so Christ is spoken
of in the same language as spoken of God the Father God the creator
and the reason for that is because he's the creator we'll see that
in our next lesson you will see that God and the word are the
same. He said in one place He magnified
His word above His own name. Was He speaking about Christ?
Perhaps He was. Perhaps He was. When He said,
My word shall go where I sin and shall accomplish whatever,
was He talking about Christ? Perhaps He was. But if He's talking
about the written word, He's also talking about the living
word, the Lord Jesus Christ. A man named Philip Lockyer wrote
a book on how the written word and the living word are described
in the very same language in scripture. When you finally talk
about the word of God, when you talk about the written word,
the same adjectives and adverbs used around that word, that term,
is exactly the same. They're not different between
the living and the written word. Christ said he is the word. In
the beginning was the word, the word. In fact, Christ refers
to Himself at the beginning and the end. He is the beginning.
He said, I am Alpha and Omega. I am the beginning and the end. In the beginning was the Word. His full revelation was shrouded
in mysterious language throughout the Old Testament. Christ was
who He was talking about when in Genesis chapter 1 it said,
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. That's
who He was talking about. He was talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. for he's the god we know and he's the god we can know
the only god we can know over in romans chapter sixteen and
verse twenty five paul talked about that mystery of this book
of the old testament Verse 25 of Romans 16 says, Now
unto him that is of power to establish you according to my
gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation
of the mystery which was kept secret since the foundation of
the world. It was kept secret since the
foundation of the world. It also says the same thing about
this mystery in Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 19. The secret mystery
of God's wisdom. secret mystery. For all those
centuries Christ was written about. We've seen that in our
studies of the Old Testament, how Christ is there on every
page and in every line, but it was a mystery. Paul said that
mystery was ordained for our understanding. In 1 Corinthians
chapter 1 it was a predestinated for us to understand, that is
us being the children of God. This verse declares Christ to
be God. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was God. You don't need to mess around
with the language. You don't need to use metaphor
or any poetic license here. It's just simply a statement.
In the beginning was the Word, capital W-O-R-D, and the Word
was God. The Word was God. That declares the Deity of the
Lord Jesus Christ. This verse declares Christ to
be God and also to be WITH God. So here we have a distinction.
He is God and He is WITH God. So how can that be? That sets
forth the Trinity or part of the Trinity. Two persons in the
Godhead. We know that in Him dwells the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. In 1 John Chapter 5 Speaking
of the Trinity, John says this, There are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these
three are one. That is 1 John 5 and verse 7. For there be three that bear
witness, or bear record, in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the
Holy Ghost and these three are one. Christ is here declared
to be eternal. He didn't just exist when he
showed up and was carried in Mary's womb and then born 20
centuries ago in a stable outside of Bethlehem. That didn't where
he started. He is the Eternal Son of God. He is the One who described in
Revelation as the One who WAS and IS and is to come. Now depicting Christ as the Word
has many applications. It can mean that which is spoken. the doctrine, the teaching, that
which is published, the report, the account, and written and
recorded narrative. All those things apply to that
term, Word. The Greek word is Logos. Logos,
the divine Logos, the Word from God, the Word who was with God
and was God. is how it's reduced. All of it
is reduced to that one thing. It's called the doctrine of reduction,
bringing all things to one thing. The gospel is a doctrine of reduction.
as much as it says about so many things and so many things are
covered in the gospel is all reduced to the singular person
of the Lord Jesus Christ so it's all reduced to that. That's why
we can say the gospel is not only the written word of God
it is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He himself is the
good news. All the definitions are succinctly
reduced to the word. He's the word who was with God
and was God and he's the God that can be known the only god
that can be known and how is he known? how is he known? i know people say they've seen
jesus on the side of water towers and mcmuffins and all sorts of
things they say they've seen god people talk about feeling
his presence people talk about sensing his presence your five
senses you'll never know christ that way you'll never know Christ
that way you can't discern him by the five human senses you
were born with so you forget thinking about that if you see
him in a door carving of a door or something that's not anything
because it don't mean anything how do we know he's God how do
we know him as God how is he revealed to us as the word with
words with words. I've told this story many times
after a preacher preached a pretty eloquent sermon and did a really
good job and people really enjoyed it. One man came out and shook
his hand and he says, I've got every word of that sermon in
one of my books at home. He said, no sir, I wrote that sermon just
yesterday for me. He said, I've got every word
of it. I'll show it to you. He said, well, I want you to. So
we went to that man's house. The man pulled out a Webster
Dixner and handed it to him. He said, that's just words. Why do you believe? Because you
feel something. Why do you believe? Because this
is what it says. How in the world can somebody
have so much confidence and so much belief and hold on to something
as if they're holding on to life itself? They can only do it one
way. If God in His grace has given
them this thing called faith. They believe not what they feel,
not what they can see. It's more what they can see.
They believe what they have read. They believe what has been preached
to them. That's the faith that God gives.
Faith is totally subjective. Now, it has an object. The object
of faith is the Lord Jesus Christ, but it is totally subjective
in this sense. It believes what is written.
It's no wonder the world thinks we're foolish. things were crazy. We come in here three times a
week and sit down and hear some man stand up and read words and
talk about words and that's all he does. He doesn't tell you
to do anything. He doesn't tell you to feel anything.
He doesn't tell you to come down front or you have to do this
or have to do that. He just says the words and says them over
and over again and continually repeats them if you believe. Why? Because God gives you faith. There's no other reason. You
didn't work it out. You didn't come up with it. God
gave you faith. Faith believes the Word of God. The believer knows Christ by
the Word, the record, the published good tidings of good things,
the preached gospel. Faith believes the Word of God. Who is Christ? He is in the Word.
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God. The same, and the Word was with
God, the same was in the beginning with God. And depicting Christ
as the Word declares Him to be the witness of God. The Word,
the manner of God's communication with humanity. God didn't write
this thing in the stars. He didn't reveal it in creation
as wondrous and glorious as creation is. He didn't reveal it in providence
as amazing and mysterious as providence is. He revealed it
in His Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, He is the mediator between
God and man. He is God's language. He is the
language God speaks. Many years ago at a place called
Babel, a fellow named Nimrod decided to build a tower that
would reach to heaven. much like most idols it was made
of stone and brick and they built it and built it and they got
to the point where they believed they were always in their mind
that they were almost in heaven, almost in heaven and God stopped
them. How did he do it? He confused
the languages. Suddenly somebody up there was
putting brick on and he asked for something and the guy couldn't
understand him. So he asked somebody else, and
this guy couldn't understand him either because he didn't know
that language. All of a sudden they were speaking, and so they began to
seed scout each other with the languages, finding someone that
could understand them. And communities were established
with like speech, and men scattered and gathered in lands throughout
the earth with people of the same language. can speak to each
other. Nations and countries were formed
and held together by the distinctive languages that they speak. And
you and I can go to a place, and unless they speak English,
we're in trouble. Many places here in Cherokee,
unless you speak the language, it'd be difficult for people
to understand. Most people do speak English, but some people
won't talk to you except in Cherokee. I understand a little, but I
don't understand much. I don't understand much. I go to a grocery store, sometimes
I hear people speaking in Spanish. I know it's Spanish because I
had five years of it in school. I know it's Spanish, but I can
just pick up a word here and there. At Babel, man no longer had one
language. He couldn't communicate with
one another. And everyone who spoke another
language was a foreigner, was a foreigner. The one language
that was foreign to everyone, and is foreign to everyone today
still, is God's language, except by the revelation of the Spirit
by the Word. His language is the Word. The Word. His language is Jesus
Christ, and it is foreign to all humanity. unless it's revealed. God promised that He would return
His people, His elect, to one language. And that has happened. But it's still a foreign language.
When I stand and tell people about the Gospel, and when you
tell people about the Gospel and tell them the truth of the
Gospel, the reason they roll their eyes at you is because you're
speaking in a language they don't understand. and they can't understand
it. They can't understand it. The
promise of God in Zephaniah 3 and verse 9 says, For then will I
turn the people to a pure language, a pure language that they may
all call upon the name of the Lord to serve Him with one consent
or in one manner. That language is His Son. He
said in Hebrews chapter 1 and verse You know, in various times,
in sundry matters, God spake unto the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken to us by Jesus Christ, and actually
the words are in the Son, in His Son. He speaks in His Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is that divine witness of
God. He's that faithful witness, that's
what He's called in the Word of God. To those who oppose Christ,
the Gospel is still a foreign language. Let me show you a few
examples. He spoke to folks who read the
Bible. In this very book, in John chapter 8, verse 43, he
says to them, and he's not asking a question, this is a rhetorical
question which he answers. John 8, 43 says, Why do you not
understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear
my word. Now they were listening to him.
And they heard with their ears what He said. What couldn't they
hear? They couldn't hear who He was.
They couldn't hear the Word of God down in verse 45. And it
says, Because I tell you the truth, you believe Me not. First Corinthians chapter 2 and
verse 14. It says, The natural man receiveth
not the things of the world, the things of the Lord, they
are foolishness to him, the things of the Spirit, they are foolishness
to him. foolishness to them. Neither can they know them nor
discern them. They can't grasp what they are.
But the spiritual man discerns all things, yet is discerned
of none. And we have the mind of Jesus Christ, it says, over
in Psalm 2, which is quoted in Acts chapter 4. The Lord talks
about the day of crucifixion. in Psalm 2, when men gathered
together to get rid of God, to get rid of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Psalm 2, in verse 1, it says,
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
Their imagination is to get rid of God, and that's a vain thing,
that's an empty thing, it ain't gonna happen. The kings of the earth
set themselves, King Herod. The rulers take counsel, Pilate,
together against the Lord and against his anointed that word
in the Greek is Christ that's how it's spoken in Acts chapter
4 against his Christ and they say let us break their bands
asunder we don't want them to control us we will not have this
man to reign over us let us cast their cords away from us we don't
want their influence and it says he that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh and the Lord shall have them in derision. That word derision means he will
speak to them in a foreign language. They will be in utter derision
because when he speaks they won't understand what he says. And
that was proven true throughout. And he says of those that do
this, he says, Yet shall I set my king on Zion's holy hill.
Yet shall I set my king. Those who crucified the Lord
Jesus Christ and mocked him we're doing exactly what god or for
what a mockery that is what a laughter that brings in god's heart they
were instrumental in the salvation of the elect by the death of
the lord jesus christ over in isaiah when he talked about the
word of god isaiah speaks a great deal about the word of god he
said there's coming a time you remember amos said in amos chapter
8 i think it is that there's coming a famine it's not a famine
of water or food it's a famine of the word of god he said men
will seek all over for the word of god and shall not be able
to find it it won't be for them and in isaiah chapter 29 verse
9 it says stay yourselves and wonder cry ye out and cry
They are drunken, but not with wine. They stagger, but not with
strong drink. For the Lord hath poured out
upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes. And
the prophets, and your rulers, and your seers hath he covered.
And the vision of all is become unto you as words of a book that
is sealed. which men deliver to one that
is learned, saying, Read this, and I pray thee. And he said,
I cannot, for it is sealed. And the book is delivered to
one that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee. And he
said, I'm not learned. That's the dearth of the word
of God. That's what happens when we preach
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. To some, it's a savor
of life unto life. To others, it's a savor of death
unto death, and we're not sufficient for it. That's why all our job
is to do is to preach the Word of God. I'm so glad that I don't
have anything to do with trying to get results or trying to look
for results. I don't know what they are. young
lady came to me two weeks ago and said I want to be baptized
I trust the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. I said okay. Did I have anything to do with
that? No. This did. I didn't have anything to do
with that. This did. This did. We preach the gospel the word
and what we're doing we're telling people about God who is and was
and is to come. The word is hymn. One fellow
said this is a hymn book. It's about hymn and it's about
hymn and his words he said in this very book are spirit. His words are spirit and they
are life. God bless us to understand and
pray in Christ's name. Amen. God bless you. If you haven't signed this card...