In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the opening verses of the book of John in the Bible. He emphasizes that everything was created by God and that life comes from Him. The preacher highlights the different forms of life, including vegetable life, and emphasizes that God's unchangeability is evident in His creation. He also discusses the concept of light and darkness, and how the darkness did not comprehend the light. The sermon concludes by mentioning John the Baptist, who came to bear witness to the light of God.

This evening, and it's being entitled, Jesus, we're going to follow right through the Gospel of John, and we'll trace it out on the map behind me, every footstep that the Master took. John, John's Gospel, chapter one, and I'm going to try to get through the first twenty-eight verses this evening. John one, and then psalm one, right down to verse twenty-eight. All the great scholars are unanimous that John the Apostle was, indeed, the writer of this Gospel. They're all unanimous that the son of Zebedee, John the brother of James, a follower of Christ, the Apostle, the one whom Jesus greatly loved, was the writer of this Gospel. And all the great scholars are unanimous that this was the last Gospel of the four to be written. There's a query about the date. Some of the scholars think A.D. 90, some just disagree a year or two with that, but for our class, that sort of thing doesn't matter. And the purpose for writing the Gospel is very plainly told to us in John, chapter twenty. John, chapter twenty, and the last two verses of the chapter, they are very important ones. John, twenty, verse thirty, and many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that, believing, ye might have life through his name. That's why the Gospel was written. You see, John didn't write a complete history of all the deeds and doings of Christ like the other Gospel writers. John doesn't touch on Bethlehem, or the angel coming to Mary, or the details of Christ's early life at Nazareth, or coming and getting lost at Jerusalem. No, he wasn't just putting those details in, he was just picking up some of the great things, of the great sermons, the great signs, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. So, he was writing a Gospel to prove that Jesus was the eternal Son, and that ye, believing, might have life through his name. There's the writer, the date is 1890, the last Gospel to be written, and there's the purpose, and we start now in the first twenty-eighth verse. You'll notice that verse twenty-eight reads like this, "'These things were done in Bethlehem, beyond Jordan, where John was baptized.'" You see, that's the first point that we find in this Gospel, geographically speaking. Of course, we find that the Lord Jesus was away off in the glory with the Father before he came, and if we were to trace the night of coming down from heaven, we would find, in Luke's Gospel, that the angel came to Mary here at Nazareth. Would you remember that this is where the miraculous conception took place? Don't think the conception took place at Bethlehem, because Mary just made it to Bethlehem in the war, when the baby was born. The conception took place away off in Galilee, in Nazareth, and then Mary and Joseph came down the long road to Bethlehem. You can understand the chapter, or the map, I'm sure, without me going into details. It's a full-size, proper map of Palestine, and Palestine proper is on the west of the Jordan here, and it was divided in those days into three great districts, Galilee and Samaria, and Samaria was in the center, and Judea was down at the bottom of the land of Palestine. So that the Lord came, and the great, wonderful conception took place in Nazareth, then Mary and Joseph took that long journey. Now, I drew the red line for you to follow down and pick them up, but they didn't come that way, because Joseph and Mary being Jews, they had no dealings with the Samaritans, and the Jews wouldn't pass through Samaria, so Jews coming from Galilee down to Judea usually crossed the Jordan up here, came down a valley on that side of the Jordan, and down here at Bethlehem, they usually crossed back into Judea and came down to Bethlehem. And then we find that from Bethlehem, our Lord eventually got out to Bethlehem beyond Jordan, and that's the first point that John touches on in his wonderful gospel that is geographically speaking. That's why I'm trying to get down to that point tonight, because that's the really starting off point of John's gospel. But the first twenty verses can't just be bypassed. We've got to look at them. These first twenty verses, they divide themselves into two subjects. The first one, the revelation of the Son. You get more details here about the eternal sonship than you'll get anywhere else in the book that I know of, in these first twenty verses. But you have not only the subject of the revelation of the Son, you have the subject of the mission of the servant. John the Baptist began his mission here in this first chapter and in these first twenty verses. But we'll go into it detail by detail. Let's begin at the first verse. In the beginning was the words. That's a complete statement. We need to ask questions if we want to get the truth. When John writes these three words, in the beginning. In the beginning of what, is what you need to ask. In the beginning of anything that ever had a beginning. That's the idea. It's the same phrase as you'll find in Genesis chapter one and the very first verse. Have a look at it again. The book of Genesis, in fact your Bible opens with these three words. Genesis one and verse one. In the beginning. You have the same phrase. In the beginning God created, God created the heaven and the earth. Well that's a tremendous statement because that takes us away back to a bit less past. There's no man or no scholar can put a date on that phrase, in the beginning. You see, in the first verse of Genesis, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And in the second verse you find, and the earth was without form. Well you see, God never created anything without form. Something actually happened between your first verse and your second verse of Genesis. And it was this. It was the rebellion of Satan. And you see, when God created the heaven and the earth, everything was absolutely perfect. Quite what God doeth is perfect. And then the devil came in to take control. And God tumbled the whole creation upside down. And the earth was without form in the second verse. Now there's nobody can tell how long it lay like that. And then God started to reform the six days that we talk about as the six days of creation, which were nothing of the kind. The creation was done before that, and that's the reforming. Now the date in John's Gospel goes back to the first verse, in the beginning. Now you can say that that's millions or billions of years ago if you want to. God only knows when that was. But here's the thing we must underline in John's Gospel. Now watch it carefully. In the beginning. That is that time when everything or anything that ever had a beginning began. That's the time we're thinking about. In the beginning of everything, watch. The Word was. That's a tremendous thing. You see, the Word had no beginning. The Word was. The Word was there. When anything that ever had a beginning began, the Word was. So that settles the eternality. Or properly, it should be the eternity of the Word. Now why was this phrase used here, in the beginning was the Word? Why was that used? It's very wonderful. Let's go down the chapter a little bit, and we'll get the sense. You see verse fourteen? John 1, verse fourteen. And the Word was made flesh. You see, that's something, isn't it? And dwelt among us. Now what does he say? It's in a parenthesis, but it must be watched. And we beheld his, his glory. So that without any stretching of any text, the Word is a person. His. The Word is a glorious person. The Word became flesh, and we beheld his glory. So that the Word here is a glorious person. Then it goes on further, doesn't it? In John fourteen, verse fourteen. We beheld his glory. Then it goes just a little bit more. The glory of the only begotten of the Father. This glorious person was the only begotten of the Father. So this is the eternal Son we're looking at. The eternal Son. Now, if you get your first phrase right now, way back when everything that ever had a beginning began, the eternal Son was. That's very wonderful. That truth is eternality. But here's something that you wouldn't see in your English Bible, and I point it out for you because there are people who argue about it. See that little word, was, in your first phrase? In the beginning was the Word. Now, that is a Greek word, and you can look this up if you've got a Greek New Testament, or if you've got a lexicon at home, and find out if I'm right. It's the word eto. It's got three letters, I-T-O. And it's a Greek word that means always existent. You see, in the beginning, the eternal Son was preexistent. He preexisted before anything that ever was made began. Of course he did. But here's a different word. Do you see this one in John 14? And the word was made flesh. That's not the same was at all. That's not the same was. That word is another Greek word, and it's spelt like this, E-T-E-N-E-T-O. E-T-E-N-E-T-O is the word. And that word, E-T-E-N-E-T-O, means to bring into existence. Now, that's very wonderful, because in the first phrase, you have one who is always existing, and that particular word is used. In the second phrase, the word was made flesh. That is, he's being brought into existence now as a man. It's very wonderful, because, you see, once when I was arguing with Russell Ikes, and I very definitely would take any one of them to the first phrase of John and point out to them that the word was in the beginning. He was existing before anything that began that ever had a beginning. And Russell Ikes immediately did this. Verse 6, he said, There was a man sent from God. So, do you see the was there? He said, was that man pre-existent? He was, too. But I just happened to know what he didn't know. I knew it was a different Greek word, and I said, well, now we'll look that up in the Greek New Testament and see if it's the same words. And he just was shocked, it wasn't. This man here wasn't a pre-existent man. He was actually being brought into existence as the servant of Jehovah now. There was a man sent. And it was a different Greek word that was used. Try and remember that, because it's very important. And if you have any troubles about it, or doubts about it, or find anything to the contrary, come and tell me, but I know you won't. But I'm only pushing you on so that you'll find out for yourself. Two different Greek words are there. And this one in the first phrase is, So that shows the eternality of the Son. And then look at the second phrase in the first verse, And one of the Greek scholars, in fact five or six of them, have translated that phrase like this. And I think it's a better translation. And the word was face-to-face with God. You see, I think that's lovely, because we're talking about the eternal Son. And he was the only begotten of the Father. And way before the hill the Lord of Judah received it for him, he was younger, face-to-face with the Father, who was God. Now, we're going to talk to the boys in a moment who believe in this oneness doctrine, who don't believe in the Trinity. Well, how could you go face-to-face with one another if there's only one? This oneness doctrine's all belonging. You're going back to Unitarianism. Unitarianism is the truth. There is an eternal Father. And there was an eternal Son. And the way back yonder they were face-to-face with one another. That brings out the personality of the Savior. That leaves it beyond any dispute. He was a distinct personality. And there are personalities in the Godhead. There is the Father and the Son. And if we had to prove it tonight, we could prove the Holy Ghost is a person in the Godhead. So that the second phase brings out his personality, face-to-face with God, who was the Father. And then John was very particular about this. He didn't want you to get the idea that the Father was God and the Son wasn't. He said, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was face-to-face with God. And then here's a complete statement. The Word was God. The Word was God. That brings out his DNA. So that you have no problems at all. Never let anybody upset you in these tremendous fundamental doctrines. The Word is perfectly plain. Way before anything that ever had a beginning began, the eternal Son was. And he was face-to-face with the Father. There were personalities there. And the Word, hallelujah, was God. Existed as God. It's the same word there. It's essential. The Word existed as God. Well, you've got that, haven't you? Beautiful verse. And we're up the second one. The same. You'd almost think he was saying it over again, and yet he's not, you know. The same was in the beginning with God. You see, this one, who was the eternal Son, who was in the Godhead, who was a distinct personality and yet a deity, this one is the unchanging one. He's the same. Let me get the hold of this. He was the same way back yonder. Let me tell you this. He's the same today. And blessed God, he'll be the same for all eternity. He's the same yesterday. I am today. I am forever. But he's the same. Well, my friend, if you could change him, he wouldn't be God. You see, when he took upon him the form of a servant, he became what he had never been before, but he didn't cease to become what he had always been. He was still God. A man. He's the same. You see, that brings out his unchangeability. You've got his eternality in the first days. You've got his personality in the second one. You've got his deity in the third one. And you've got his unchangeability in the fourth one. And you're at the third verse now. Look at that verse. All things were made by him. You see, that proves that he was before all things. There's no problem about his preexistence now. Before anything begun ever had a beginning, for he began it. He was. Well, he must be there if he's going to begin a thing. All things were made by him. And without him was not anything made that was made. You're looking at his ability now. It was the blessed eternal son, the second person of the Godhead, who threw the squires into the squire, who spat and it was done, who commanded and it stood fast. Why, he laid the foundation of the earth, he, Brutus, and the heavens are the works of his hand. So that you're gazing at his ability. Now you come to another phrase. Verse four. John pitches like this all the time. They're just short phrases. In him was life. That's a tremendous one, isn't it? You're looking at his productivity now. You know, there's no life apart from him. Well, if he made everything, then it was he who created the vegetable life. That's the form of life, you know. Vegetable life is a form in itself. Vegetable life is unconscious life, but it is life. It grows, it develops, it grows forth above to land the fruits and so on. But it's life, it's a form of life. It's unconscious, you can tread on it, you can cut it down, it won't squeal. It's unconscious, but it's life. And it came from heaven. Then, of course, there is the animal life, different form of life from vegetable life. Animal life is world-conscious life. Vegetable life is not world-conscious. It's got no consciousness. But an animal has got a world-consciousness. Yes, if you're kind to an animal, it will respond. And if you feed it, it will remember. So it's got a world-conscious life. Then you come another step along under human life. Yes, our Lord Jesus was the producer of all kinds of life. Vegetable, animal, human. Yes, the human is not only world-conscious but dark-conscious. Yes, the flower is not world-conscious, the animal is world-conscious, but the human is not only world-conscious but dark-conscious. Then you see, there's still another kind of life, that spiritual life. Our Lord Jesus produces that, because when you have the Son as your Savior, you have eternal life. And if you haven't got the Son, you haven't got life. That's what the book says. He that hath the Son hath life, he that hath not the Son hath not life. And then, you know, I believe there's another phrase you can bring in. You know, He's the producer of abundant life. You know, in Him was life. All kinds of life was found in Him. You can't find life anywhere else. Life is found in our Lord Jesus. The Eternal Son was the producer of all kinds of life. So that you're looking, in that phrase, at His productivity in Him was life. Then, another short phrase, do you see how John preaches? Verse four, and the life was the light of men. Now, I want you to take your time with this one. I think it's just as clear as the rest, but if you take your time you'll get it. You see, those two words, the life. Now, they shouldn't be written the way they're written in the English Bible. Dr. Bullinger and Dr. Schaefer, Dr. Ironside, Dr. Finch, and all the great scholars, they're all unanimous that those two words, they are a title of our Lord Jesus. It should be a capital T and a capital L. They're talking about the Life. Talking about Him. Him. He is the Life, you know. You see, He's the Word. That's the first thing John proves. Then He's the Life. And in a minute or two you'll see He's the Life. Those are all titles, of course, of Christ. And you know, if He's the expression of everything that's of God, that's why the word Lucas was used, the Word. And if He produced everything that is the Life, and if He's the only Life there is, then He must be God. John's proving He's God. And John has done it terribly well. Although John only used short, simple, one-syllable phrases to do it. Certainly well done. If you're a scholar and you want to gather this together, watch this. Do you see this? I'll emphasize something for you. In the beginning was the Word and. The Word was with God and. The Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. 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 shined as in darkness and. The darkness comprehended it not. In five verses you've got six and. You see, He just works in short phrases. They're not conjunction phrases. He's just introducing each time a new phrase. It's wonderful, you know, to see John working like that. It must have been God that took the mind. As He has given such deep, tremendous, sublime, wonderful, magnificent, marvelous truths in these phrases. And yet they're just one-syllable phrases introduced by Him all the time. It's really wonderful. But this one that we're at now, and the Life. That is the Son, the Word, if you wish. The Life was the Light of men. You know, we're looking at His sanctity here. You know, when the Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son, the Word, came down and became flesh and took upon Him the form of a servant. You know, this world saw something that it had never seen before. It saw a perfectly sinless man. Never one thought out of place. Never one word out of place. For thirty-three and a half years, He wandered in and out of all men. He never said one word out of place. He never lost His temper. They saw something that was mental and temperamental, perfectly sinless, something they'd never seen before. He was the Light of men. That was their sanctity. What a Light that was. You will never see that again. Only in Christ was that seen, and that was what life should be. It was the Light of men. And yet, here's something that comes in behind it. And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. Now, verse 5, 6, 7, 8, they're parenthesical verses. Let's keep them for a moment. Watch this. And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men who might believe, he was not that Light, you can see Light in the capital L here, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. You know, friends, this is tremendously pathetic. It's really a tragedy. Look, here is one who came down and took upon him the form of a servant and lived like no other man will ever live, perfectly holy, spotless, sinless, harmless, timeless, for thirty-three and a half years. And you know, they have to send somebody to tell them the Light was here. How dark the folk were. That's pathetic, isn't it? That's really pathetic. The greatest blaze of Light that ever came across this earth was thunder in the one who was the Light of men, and just the heart to send a man to tell them the Light was here, and the darkness comprehended it not. How dark it was. Terrible. And the folk will know better in this generation, my dear. Not one bit of it. For if our Lord Jesus Christ appeared in Mergill and lived like he lived for thirty-three and a half years, believe me, they would hound him out of the town again. The darkness is deep. We'll see more of that just in a moment, but those are parenthetical verses. We're not just going into them. See verse nine? That was the true Light. Here's a tight phrase for you. Which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. You've seen the three phrases, haven't you? The Word, with a capital W. Then I told you the Light would have a capital L. And now you've seen the Light with a capital L. You see, our Lord Jesus is the Word, the Light, the Light. And ours, the Light, the Maker of all men. For he made Adam, and from Adam we all came. He lighted every man that came into the world. That's a tremendous one. You know, every single solitary soul that's born in this world, be they born in Russia, or Africa, or China, be they born black, or white, or red, or yellow, be they born under any conceivable creed that we can think of tonight, Confucius, Muhammad, or some other pagan ism, let me say this to you, that when they're born into this world, there is something that's inside called conscience that really works. And our Lord, keep that conscience there. Now, don't think that I'm going to say that everybody that's born is born with a spark in him. Because I'm not. I want to say this to you, that you know, the darkness and the depth of the sinfulness of human nature has blotted conscience out from working. My, there are folk in this world whose conscience don't work at all. They've got a feared conscience. But remember, the Lord made mine with the light of conscience. Sometimes I'm asked how will the poor pagans do in a day that's yet to be when they stand before the judgment bar. Now, have a look at Romans chapter 2 with me just for a moment. Verse 14. For then the Gentiles, which have not the law, that is, have not the Ten Commandments, do by nature, that's a tremendous thing, my dear, that's fallen nature, the things contained in the law, these having not the law are a law unto themselves, which through the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness. You know, you'll get men in pagan Africa tonight who never heard one word of the gospel, and probably never will. And they're born yonder in the dark depths of the jungle, and at this moment probably naked. But let me say this, the Stanley Bennington, who had gone into some of the weights where no white man ever was, told me this, that he found pagans in the center of Africa who wouldn't tell a lie, not if they were to be killed. They didn't know anything about the Ten Commandments, thou shalt not bear false witness. And he found men who would not stoop down to steal. It was something working, conscience as well. I know that those two would be the exceptions to the rule. But, oh Lord, give a light to every man that comes into the world. Now, you're looking at his liberality there, aren't you? We're getting a great picture of the son here, his eternity, his personality, his deity, his unchangeability, his ability, his productivity, his sensitivity, and in verse 9 we were out of liberality, and then in verse 10, another little phrase, he was in the world. Why, that was his humility. You see, that's where we really begin here, down from his glory. You know, he really came down. It is where the conception took place. And then on that first Christmas morning, he came into the world, he was in the world. And what humility it was. The one who made all things, the one who was God, my, you can hardly dig it in, he's lying in the manger, a tiny little bed. That's humility. It's been a long way to be your savior, dear. And mister, if you're on the seat tonight without Christ, mind you, you're rejecting something. He ruled a platoon of glory, and humbled himself, and took upon him the form of a servant, and lay in your manger in the chaos, or whatever it may have been, all that he might come to be your savior. You know, once when old Dr. Dorrie was preaching the gospel in a wonderful way, a lady came in at the end of the meeting, and she said, you know, this is all nonsense you're preaching. She said, it seems to me that you're preaching that an innocent man has gone to the cross and died for guilty men, and that couldn't be right. Harry said, I never preached that, mister. He said, the first truth of the gospel is this, that the God who was sinned against came down and took upon him the form of a servant and paid for the sins that were against him. That's tremendous. That's your very first note of the gospel. Down from his glory. He was in the world. Think of the humility. Now, here's another parenthetical little bit, verse 10. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew not. Why can't you see the blindness? You know, friends, this is tremendous. You know, he was in the world as the light, and in the moment you'll see, he was in the world as the words. He was declaring God. And he was in the world as the light, and as the light, the darkness didn't comprehend it at all. And when he was in the world as the light, you know, friends, they didn't even see it. They didn't know who he was. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and yet the world knew not. Think of the darkness, and think of the blindness. Then watch this. He came on to his own, and that word could be followed up like this. He came on to his own things, because it's actually in the plural here. He came on to his own things. He came on to his own land. Well, this was the land that he had chosen, chosen as his own land, as the law that it made. He came on to his own things. He came on to his own land. He came on to his own people. But look what it says. And his own received him not. You see, they didn't want him. I wonder how you're following this closely to see this. Do you see the darkness? The darkness that didn't comprehend the light? Do you see the blindness that didn't know the Lord? Do you see the unwillingness that didn't want to face it? That's just what's the trouble with a lot of folk in this meeting. Let the devil blind you until you're as dark. Why, you're darker than some of our dear friends who are here tonight, who are physically blind. You know this. We have two blind men, pardon me for saying this, in the meeting just now. If we put the lights out, then we do the world. And if you put them on, they'll do the rest. We don't need somebody to turn them the lights on. But some of you in your spiritual darkness, you're not blind and dark. You don't know the light. Yes. But there's something worse than that about you. There's an unwillingness. Now, what your trouble is, you don't want the Savior. You're not willing to give your life to Him. You're not willing to let Him take you. You're not willing to let the Pope do what you belong to Jesus. You're not willing. You don't want Him. Terrible thing. Darkness. Blindness. Unwilling. That was the trouble with the world then, and that's the trouble with you now. But, you know, in spite of all that, see verse 12, but as many as receive Him. Ah, that's His attractability. You know, He's still attractive to people. Why, I think this is wonderful. With all the natural darkness, with all the satanic blindness, with all the freshly unwillingness, yet there were men at Paramount who wanted Him, who received Him. Praise God for that. He attracted folks. Thank God there's a good crowd here tonight can say, yes sir, He attracted me. Well, I never saw anybody like Jesus yet. To me, He's the all together lovely one. I'm the fairest among ten thousand. It was a happy day when I opened my life and received Him. Oh, thank you. Good crowd of us here, we've received Him. We were attracted by Him. That's His attractability. He didn't go on with that. And to everyone that received Him, to them, gives He power to become the sons of God. Well, that's His authority, isn't it? Oh, I tell you, it wasn't the bishop that made me a child of God. Not a bit of it. Yet there's a lot of potpourri you ever listen to, and I'll rub it in in a minute. My dear friends, don't you ever dare to think that you can wipe your feet on God's Son and call yourself a child of God. You can't. Indeed, you can't. If you're without Christ, you're without life, you're without the right to be called a child of God. How you become a child of God is you receive Christ and He gives you the power to become the child of God. And not until then. Don't let anybody bluff you that they'll sprinkle water on you and say this, I make thee a child of God and an inheritor of the kingdom. That's the biggest lot of pagan potpourri that you ever listen to. Say, I said, it'll be on the recorder, they can hear it. I'll have to take a nod back. Don't you worry yourself. I have no notion of taking a... That's damn children! That's damn ponies! They'll go along thinking, all right, hope there's water, make your life for heaven. Don't let anybody teach you that. My dear friend, if you're supporting that, you ought to brush now. See, I'm just teaching the things that's in the book and it'll hurt a few of you. But I'm not worried one bit about what happens. I'm just going along with the teaching. You see, this is the truth we're at. As many as received him, for them give he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. And here's a tremendous verse. Which were born, not of blood. You know, you can't get this new birth. You can't become a child of God because your father and mother were believers. Doesn't run in the blood, you know. Why, your father could be a saint. And your mother could be one of the weirdest souls in the kingdom of God. Jesus could go to hell and be gone for all eternity. It's not of blood. Blood has got nothing to do with it. Blood has got nothing to do with it. You're not born again of blood. It doesn't run in the veins. For the better. And then watch this. Nor of the will of the flesh. You know, you just can't get born again when you like. No, you know, you just couldn't make up your own mind and say, although I think I'll get saved tonight. You couldn't. You couldn't. It's not of the will of the flesh at all. I'll tell you this. If you ever had one thought of ever coming to the Lord and getting to say, believe me, it never, it was the Holy Ghost that was walking with you. It was God. You see this. You can't get born again of the blood, nor of the will of the flesh. Now watch this. Nor of the will of man. No man can do it either. You see, friends, that's what I'm telling you. It doesn't make a matter what ritual man puts you through. It doesn't make a matter what man says. It doesn't make a matter what man professes. Man can't do it. Unforgettable. Unbegunnably. Don't let anybody bluff you that they can't. For they most certainly can't. You see, here's how it happens. It's not of blood, and it's not of the will of the flesh, and it's not of man, but of God. Ah, that's the thing. Look, you see, that day when I came and received the Lord Jesus, you know, before I opened my life to Him at all, you know, God had been working. God had been. You see, here we're seeing two ends of one thing. You see, we're looking now at the sovereignty side. God convicts me. God brings the gospel before my heart. God uplifts Christ. God presents the Savior. God gives the Word. God gives the promises. It's all God and nothing. But I'm responsible to receive Him. Ah, that's responsibility, isn't it? But I'll never receive Him without God working. My dear friends, I want you to get the hold of this. If you're out for souls to get this, and you want to see man and woman faith, I'll tell you this, keep your faith towards God. You know, I don't need God. You know, I knew pastors. I was trying to educate one of them the other day. And they'd go round like this, telling me a little thing, and I'll not go too deep in it. You know, he said, I went into a house and found a woman, and I tried to talk her into trusting the Lord. I said, I don't wish to do that. It wasn't of God at all. He just thought he could talk some little woman into making a profession, and then he would humbly do it. But what happened? I told him this, of course. Friends, be careful. Make sure that God's working through you. Unless it's God, the whole thing won't work. You push somebody into a profession, young man, throw your eyes towards God. Let God factor into your whole being until God pulls through you. Take God. And then when all that has happened, remember the responsibility is theirs. You see, you can't get saved when you're lost. You can't take the notion. Ah, but you can fight against the Spirit of God when God comes. Why, you can resist the Holy Ghost. That's a dreadful thing. Now watch where we're at now. We've come down to verse fourteen. And the Word was made flesh. You see, that's humanity now. We're down to humanity. What a wonderful picture we've found. And right among us, we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. Now watch this phrase. Full of grace and truth. You know, that's His sufficiency. Oh, our Lord Jesus was wonderful. You have traced this right down, haven't you? You've been gazing at the revelation of the Son that's in the first chapter. You've seen His deity. You've seen His eternality. You've seen His unchangeability, His ability, His attractability, and so on. Now, you're looking at His sufficiency. May I show you a wee thing? You know, the Lord Jesus was the most gracious soul that ever walked in the body of the Father. In fact, when He was preaching at Capernaum on one occasion, you know, the clouds gathered in to hear the gracious words fell from His lips. He was a real gentleman, you know. I'll tell you this. The Master that was full of grace, wait a minute, He was full of truth. And you know what? I bet the folks didn't like it. It's just the same yet. You just be a nice wee fella, and roll all the messages, and do everything they want you to do, and don't ever dare to speak out. My, they'll hug you. But you'll envy them meeting you now, because you're not doing God's work. You see, at Capernaum, they gathered in to hear the gracious words. And the moment He began to impress truth upon them, they went to throw Him over a barrel of hell. You know, there's a whole lot of folk, my, they love just little things that won't disturb them. But you come out with a cloud of truth. You thunder it in to them. And I'll tell you this, you'll get up in arms. Some people don't like this. You see, some of the things that I've said just now, some folk don't like it. Let me tell you, it's still truth, whether you like it or not. Don't you dare to think that some fella can throw water on a baby and make it a child of God, if that's what you believe, down telling you it's from hell. And you're getting the truth now. To me, you don't like it. I can't help it. Our Lord Jesus just stood in the very same spot. Look, let us get the hold of this. You know, I want you to get this. You know, He was full of grace. It doesn't make a motto what place you'll ever be in, why the storm might howl, the boot might be filled with water, the enemy may come near, the day may be dark, you may even pass through the valley of the shadow of death, but you'll find that His grace is sufficient. Would you be quick to say this? There's truth to this, if I can say both. Some people don't like truth, you know. Others say His grace is sufficient. Let me tell you His truth is sufficient. And the fullness of this, there's absolute sufficiency. By His grace will make me stand. And His truth will keep me in the center of the King's highway. What a sufficiency. What a sufficiency. Well, let's go on with another parenthetical little bit. It's about John, and we might leave it to the side, but we'll read it now. John, bear witness of Him, and Christ saying, This was He of whom I speak, He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for He was before me. And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace, for the law was given by Moses, but grace unto Him by Jesus Christ. Here we are at the other side of the parenthesis. No man has seen God at any time. The only forgotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. Yes, He's the Word. You know, if you want to know just exactly what God's like, I'll tell you. God is exactly like Christ. God is exactly like Christ. That's what He's like. You see, Christ brought a revelation to this world of God's grace, of God's mercy, of God's wisdom, of God's truth, of God's justice, of God's power, God's goodness. Why, you can go on, bring in every attribute that God has got, and you'll see them all shining through Christ. My, what a capability which He has. Enfreshed. God was manifested. God manifested Enfreshed. Have you seen the Son? That's the Son. I think that's one of the greatest revelations in the book of the eternal Son of God. You've got His eternity, His personality, His deity, His unchangeability, His ability, His productivity, His sanctity, His liberality, His humility, His attractability, His authority, His humanity, His sufficiency, His capability. Now, that's the revelation of the Son. Let's get the other few verses in so that we'll start properly next week. Do you see verse six? We're back at John. He's thinking about the mission of the servant. There was a man sent from God. You see, if you're really going to serve the Lord, you'll need to be sent. Now, I want you to watch this. It's not sent by the Lord. Not a bit of it. It's sent from the Lord. You say, is there a difference? Yes, there's a lot of difference. You know, I would need to come straight from the presence of God with this message this evening. You see, a man ought not only to be the messenger of the Lord, but he must be the Lord's messenger with the Lord's message. You see, some people may have agished and got away from God, and they're not in touch with God. You might as well bring them something, something that they have leaned on in the past. But you must come from the presence of God. John came from God. Brought the message straight from God, out from God's breast. He was sent. Why, that's the ordination that you need. And John was sent from God. Watch. The same came for a witness. We're at verse 7. To bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. What a job he had. Why, the light was shining. And yet here he was. He was coming to witness to the light. What a tremendous service that he had. Then look down where we're at in the chapter at verse 19. This is the record of John. When the Jews sent priests. I want you to watch the words here. Priests and revise from Jerusalem. To ask him who after. You see, Jerusalem is down here. There is Jerusalem there, just covered a little bit tonight. This is Bethlehem. There is Jerusalem. And John was outside the land of Judea altogether. He had crossed the Jordan, the battle of Allah, on the other side of Jordan. And the Jews sent priests. And meanwhile, he was here to ask them some questions. And here are the questions. And if you watch them, you'll learn something. First one was, who asked thou? And look at the answer. He confessed. And denied not. But confessed by on the cross. You know what was happening here, do you? You see, there was a fellow outside of Judea altogether. Preaching. Oh yes. He wasn't one of the priests in the temple. He wasn't under the high priest. And he was preaching outside the land, and he was drawing crowds there. Went out to him, all Jerusalem, all Judea. Why, multitudes came up. So they just came up and said, who are you? He said, John. John wasn't a bit afraid. He denied not. He said, I'm not the Christ. Verse 21, and they asked him, what then? Art thou Elias? He said, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, no. Then said they unto him, who art thou? That we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? And he said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. I think that's wonderful. My, this is perfect humility. Remember, he could have said, I'm the son of the priest, Zechariah. And my mother was Elizabeth. And they both walked blameless in all the honors of the Lord all the days of their life. He could also have said this, remember, I am the only one this world has ever seen who was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. He could also have said this, I'm the greatest in the kingdom of God. Christ said that for us. He could also have said a thousand other things. He could say God sent me. He could have said, I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness. I think that's perfectly lovely. Because, you see, he came to turn people to the words. You know, the word is formed in your mind before the voice utters it. The word is very important, you know. The voice just sounds it, that's all. You know, the voice can't be seen at all. And I'll tell you this, when the sound of the voice has died away, the word will always continue. You'll probably be thinking things over tonight when the voice has died away. You see, God made a great statement here. He said, I'm just the voice, that's all. But I'd love to live like that. I'd love just to be, just to be a clay channel that God could flow through with truth to hearts to bless them and build them up. But you know, I find this out, that the more you give yourself over to God and the more you become the channel, and the more the truth flows out, the more trouble you get into. But I would so long to be it. You can see his standing here, you can see his service, you can see his change, you can see the stand he took. You can see his simplicity. My luck was perfectly simple. He just said, I'm, I'm, I'm only a voice. Verse 26, God answering them, saying, I baptize with water. But there standeth one among you whom you know not, he it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoes ratchet I am not worthy to unloose. These things were done, and less of our are beyond Jordan, were done with baptizing. So you see, those 28 verses are really only the introduction to John's gospel. And so next week we start from Bethlehem, and we'll treat what happened there, and we'll treat the Lord going back to Cana of Galilee, and follow every footstep, see all the signs and wonders. But tonight, as you go home, sit down on your knees and praise God for the eternal time. You know, if I had gone on with the chapter this evening, you would have found this out. That he's not only the word, that he's not only the light, that he's not only the light, but praise God he's alive. That's just where the chapter starts next week. Behold the Lamb of God. These are great titles, aren't they? My, he's God's eternal son. He's the eternal work. He's the eternal life. He's the eternal light, and praise his name. He's the eternal Lamb. For he'll be in the midst of the soon for all eternity. Let us bow together. So we'll not sing any more tonight? Just a word of prayer? Then we'll go. You believers just now, lift your hearts to God, and just thank him now for the great gift that he sent. God so loved you that he gave his only begotten son, who became the Lamb, who rose from the dead, and tonight is your Savior. You thank God for him. And if you're sitting on the seat without him, think about the darkness that's around you. Think about the blindness that's upon you. Think about the unwillingness that's within you. What a wretched, stubborn sinner you are to turn your back on such a lovely Savior. O God, our Father, we bow to thank thee for thy Son. We lift our hearts and say together that he is indeed the altogether lovely one, the fairest among ten thousand. O God, we pray for those who are without him, and we ask that thou wilt come upon them, and that thou wilt work, and that they feel the workings of God. May they receive the Christ, and get eternal life. O Lord, part us in thy fear, and with thy blessing, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.