In this sermon, the speaker, Walter Martin, shares a personal story about a time when he was speaking at a church and had strict rules about controlling the meeting. He then goes on to discuss the physical descriptions of Jesus found in the Bible, specifically focusing on one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament. Martin emphasizes the importance of reading all the Gospels to have a complete understanding of Jesus, as each one provides a different perspective. He concludes by highlighting the significance of Jesus being both God and human flesh.

John's Gospel, Chapter 1. The Gospel according to John was written by the Holy Spirit through the Apostle John. And the Apostle John ultimately became known as the Apostle of Love. He wasn't always that. He was a part of the wrestling tag team known as the Sons of Thunder. But the Holy Spirit used John in the writing of the Gospel, the writing of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, and then the writing of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the final book in the Bible. The Apostle Paul, just in terms of sheer numbers of books that the Lord used to write, he certainly the largest number in that way. But Luke, the author of the Gospel according to Luke, and then the Acts of the Apostle John, with all that the Lord wrote and spoke through him, in terms of just the quantity of revelation that is there in verses and sentences, they top even what it is that the Lord spoke through Paul. The Gospel of John is unique among all four of the Gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are known as the synoptic Gospels, synoptic meaning seeing together. They cover much the same territory. They're all necessary. You never have a complete picture of Jesus by just reading one of the Gospels. We need all of them. But they cover largely the same territory, his birth and the parables and the miracles and these different events. The genealogy, two of them cover the genealogies and all. And so because they cover much the same material, they're known as the synoptic Gospels. Each one of the Gospels has a little bit of a different emphasis concerning Jesus. You look at the Gospels and say, why would God not do four? Why wouldn't he just, why would he do four? Why wouldn't he just have like the super-duper new improved Gospel, you know, if it contains all of it? And the reason is because each one of them gives a little different view of Jesus, a needed view. The person can take a look at another person's face from four different angles and they'll see the face a little differently for the perspective. And if the face that the four angles, the picture is taken of in the four angles is a face that you love, Jesus is a face that we love, and someone were to come to you and say, listen, which one of, you know, the four or which three of the four should we throw away? You see, you're not throwing away any of them. I mean, this is what the people that take pictures, cool pictures understand. They take all these pictures of your kids and then they have you come in and look at it and you're, you're set upon only buying $22 worth of pictures. They bring in the $400 set and they lay it out, $400, I'm at $400 to buy this and all. Well, I guess we'll throw them away. Throw away the pictures of my little baby, you know, kind of thing. And it's worse if you're a grandparent. They're all precious to us. So they all look at things a little bit differently and they show the beauty of the face, the beauty of the life for our purposes, a little bit differently. Matthew was written principally with the Jew in mind and it emphasizes Jesus as the King, as the Messiah. That's why Matthew repeats over and over again by the spirit of God that it might be fulfilled, that it might be fulfilled, that it might be fulfilled. The gospel according to Mark was written with a Roman in mind. The great emphasis of the gospel according to Mark is of a servant. Jesus is a servant. And Mark, he doesn't deal with genealogies. He doesn't deal with births. He doesn't, he, when he starts that gospel, it's right to John the Baptist in the wilderness, the temptation, the baptism out there at the Jordan River, and on we go. He's a man of action. The Romans were people of action. They were people who understood servanthood. They highly esteemed servanthood. And so the Lord provides them with a gospel, that kind of person with a gospel that says, you admire servanthood? Well, let me show you the greatest servant who ever lived. And then Luke's gospel, the emphasis upon the humanity of Jesus. Probably written with the Greek in mind, who if they did not worship the human body, they certainly highly esteemed it. The Greek could never understand Jewish circumcision. It was the mutilation of the human body. They could never get over it. And if a Jewish boy was circumcised on the eighth day and later became a great athlete and was to, to participate in the Grecian games, they would reverse the circumcision. So that it would, that mutilation to them would not appear. So when Paul writes and says, you know, if you've been circumcised and come to Christ and stay circumcised and, and, and, and don't be uncircumcised, you think how in the world could you, you know, undo the, the thing they did? And so they, they worship the human body. They worship essentially deified the, the emotions of, of man, the body of man. And so what does heaven do? Provides the Greek in that kind of mind with the greatest life that they'd ever seen. Here's a life to study. Here's a human life, all God, all man, all at the same time. Study this one. Tell me what you think and see if you don't conclude that he is the only man, the God man to be sure, that is worthy of your worship. And then the gospel according to John is written and its great emphasis is upon Jesus as God, God, the son, the son of God, the deity of Jesus Christ. So you put the four gospels together and you have heaven communicating to man, Matthew's gospel, behold your King, Mark's gospel, behold your servant, Luke's gospel, behold the man, John's gospel, behold your God. All of them communicate in this beautiful message concerning Jesus Christ to us. Now the purpose of the Holy Spirit and the writing of the gospel according to John is found almost at the end of the book and I'd like you to turn with me to it in John chapter 20, verse 30. The purpose clearly stated at the conclusion of the book and John declares by the Spirit of God and truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book. John later writes and says listen if we if we included everything the world couldn't contain the books. But he said these are written, these signs are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the promised Messiah, the son of God that is in his deity and that believing you may have life in his name. And we're going to see in just a couple of minutes that this word believe he repeats it twice in verse 31 or some version of it all the way through there is this concern on the part of the apostle John that every single person would believe in Jesus as the Messiah that is as the Christ and that he is the son of God. That's what he's concerned about. Why? He states it there because in believing this about Jesus that's where it is that we find life in his name. That's where everlasting life is going to be found and so continually he brings up this word believing, believe, believe, believe all the way through through the book because he's concerned that everyone would believe in him and have the everlasting life that's found there. His method, he stated his purpose there in chapter 20, but the method by which he has chosen by the spirit of God to get people to believe this about Jesus is all built around seven miracles of Jesus and seven great I am statements of Jesus. The whole gospel is built around seven miracles. He could have put a hundred miracles in there, a thousand miracles, ten thousand miracles, but he doesn't do it. He chooses seven by the spirit. They're carefully chosen so that as a person looks at those miracles, realizes Jesus did those miracles, that you can only come to one conclusion about him. He is the promised Messiah and he is God the son. And also with the seven I am statements, I am was a name for God in the old testament. God would come, remember when Moses, the Lord met with him in the burning bush and Moses and he commissions him to go to the children of Israel and Moses said, uh, what's your name? Uh, who should I say sent me? And the Lord said, I am that I am. I am. I have always been. I am now. I always will be. In fact, there is no past tense present tense with me. I am the self-existent one. I always live in the present tense. That's who sent you. Have fun explaining it to them, but it's the name for God in Jesus. Seven times through this gospel, he says, I am, I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the good shepherd. I am the door over and over again. What is he communicating? He is communicating clearly understood by the Jewish mind that he's divine, that he's to be understood as being divine. So chapter one, verse one, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. Great. Whoever, whatever this word is, they're pretty important. I want to know who, who is this? I remember when I read this for the first time as a Christian, I saw it in capitalization. So I knew from the Bible I had that this had something to do with God. Then you keep reading down in the verse 24 and notice, and the word, see here's where the word is identified and the word became flesh. And he dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. And Jesus bore witness of this word of him and cried out saying, and who is this speaking of? It's all speaking of Jesus. Jesus is the word. And so verse one, very important to John is a declaration of the deity of Jesus. And so he begins by saying, in the beginning was the word. When the beginning began, Jesus was already there. This is known as the pre-existence of God, the pre-existence of Jesus. Whenever the beginning of everything that has a beginning began, he did not begin at that time. He already existed at that time. So it's a way of saying that Jesus is eternal. In other words, when he came into that manger on that Christmas morning, he didn't begin to exist at that point in time. He's always existed, the pre-existence of Jesus, the fact that he's eternal. And so the Holy Spirit declares concerning him in the beginning was the word and the word was with God. The second thing that John reveals about Jesus and about God and revealing this about Jesus is that the word was with God. And then in just one, the rest of the sentence, and the word was God. In other words, Jesus, we'll see just a moment, Jesus is God. And so you have Jesus as God with God, Jesus as God with the Father. Well, the only way you can have Jesus being God and at the same time with the Father who is also God, what that requires or necessitates is a plurality in the Godhead. You must have more than one person within the Godhead. And when it speaks here of the fact that the word was with God, the word with there literally means face-to-face, the face-to-face to one another. Now concerning God, the Bible teaches that there is one God manifested in three persons, God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit. One God, three persons. When Jesus gave the great commission and he spoke to the disciples and he told them to go out and make disciples, baptizing them in the name singular in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. One name, one God, but three persons within the Godhead. Now the person says, Elizabeth, you know, doesn't one plus one plus one equal three? You can't use addition in dealing with the Godhead. You have to use multiplication. One times one times one equals one. Then the next thing the person does is start to twitch just slightly on that. Smoke starts to come out of there. And the person says, I don't understand how there can be one God and three persons. Welcome to the club. And it's a club that has some very highly esteemed members, including the apostle Paul, who wrote to Timothy and said, great is the mystery of godliness that God was manifested in the flesh. And then he goes on in that verse to speak of Jesus. It's a mystery. And this is one of the things that everyone must accept. If you're going to have, or we're going to have a personal relationship with God, is that whenever you have the finite you and I in relationship with the infinite, that is God, then there is going to be a point in that relationship where there's going to be mystery. You can only track with God so far. And then you have what is known as the vanishing point where your mind goes out across the flat, you know, um, Bonneville salt flats out there. And as far as you can see out there, they plant the flag. That's as far as you can see, as far as you can understand. And yet it goes on way beyond that. And that's the way that it is. So if a person is going to have a relationship with God, there just has to be this acceptance of the fact that there's going to be mystery involved. I can only track with him so far. Otherwise you'll become a Jehovah witness, or you'll become some other kind of group who cannot and will not accept mystery concerning God. They want to solve every kind of mystery, even if it means error in doing so. And so here you have this without controversy. Great is the mystery of God. Now the foundation for the plurality of the Godhead began very, very early in the Bible. In fact, the foundation for the plurality of the Godhead was laid as early as Genesis chapter one, verse one. You can't get earlier than that. Where God declares in the beginning, and notice the similarities here with the start of John here, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the interesting thing about that word God in Genesis 1.1 is the word that's used there is the word Elohim. And in the Hebrew, that is, Elohim is Hebrew for God. Now in the Hebrew, the word in the singular for God is El. The word for dual as it relates to God is Ella. And then the God, the word that's used, the Hebrew word for three or more as it relates to God is the word Elohim. That's the word that's used here. Now, don't let me leave you there. In Genesis chapter one, verses 26 and 27, the Lord speaks and says, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, plural pronouns. You have a conversation going on as it relates to the creation of man. And, and they, and then this, as God is saying this and notice it's God saying, let us. So whoever saying this is, is God and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Some people say, well, listen, that is speaking of a triune God or some kind of a conversation there among the father, son, and the Holy spirit there. That's, that's, that's the father talking to angels. It can't be because then in verse 27, it says, and so God created man in his own image, in the image of God. If he was talking to angels, then we would be in created in the image of God and angels. The only people that are talking in this conversation are God, is God, the plurality there in the conversation. Then you go to Deuteronomy chapter six. And then Deuteronomy chapter six, verse four, you have what is known as the great command, the great command of the Jews or the great Shema. And then that Deuteronomy chapter four, verse six, it declares hero, Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. The Bible teaches clearly that there is one God that verse alone wipes Mormonism off of the map in terms of something to be considered seriously. That's why with Mormonism, you have this pearl of great price, doctrine and covenants. You have the book of Mormon, uh, every effort made to keep you out of the Bible. The problem is, is that anytime you have subsequent revelation that you claim has come from God, it must always be tested by prior revelation. And if it violates the prior revelation, then you hold to the prior revelation and you reject the subsequent revelation. And so when you head into these books, is it of Mormonism and all they, they completely fail the previous, previous revelation. Well, that's another study. The Hebrew word that is used in Deuteronomy chapter six, verse four, for one is an interesting one hero is through the Lord. Our God, the Lord is one teaches one God, but the word that's used for one is interesting. It is in the Hebrew, the word and it means one, it absolutely means one, but it refers to a compound unity. There is another word in the Hebrew language for one, and it is the Hebrew word. Yeah. And yeah, he refers to an absolute indivisible one. If the Lord had given in Deuteronomy chapter six, verse four here, Oh Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is an indivisible one. Then we would come to John's gospel and we would close up our Bibles and we would go home because this revelation would violate the prior revelation. But yeah, he does not, the word that's used is the word that is used. And in using that word, God is quietly, even in the book of Genesis. And then in the book of Deuteronomy, making room for the truth that he knew that he would yet reveal through Jesus. Now this in John chapter one, verse one, and we will get out of it. When it says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God. Here you have God, the son facing God, the father. I think of a religious system that is very, very big in the valley and that portion of Pentecostalism known as oneness, oneness theology, or God can only manifest himself in one person of the Godhead or that he only does in one person of the Godhead at a time. And yet here you have the son face to face with the father in John chapter one, verse one. And so in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. And so not only was Jesus with God, but then we're told that he was and is God. The word was God. You cannot make a stronger statement for the deity of Jesus Christ than the one that John does here. The word was God. In fact, it is so clear and the statement is so strong that those that don't want to believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, as is the case with the Jehovah witnesses, they must resort to horrible things to try and distort the verse or to confuse the verse, to confuse the clear teaching of the verse. And so what they have done in their new world translation is they have inserted in violation of all manuscripts that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was, and they insert the word a, a God. So they say Jesus was a God in the same way that the judges of the old Testament were gods in that they took a position in which they represented God. And so they insert an A. That is a deliberate, willful, known act on the part of the leadership of Jehovah witnesses to deliberately distort and come against the clear teaching of John chapter one, verse one. Most of the people that come to your door, they don't have the slightest idea that this has been done. John chapter one, verse one alone completely dismantles the entire religious system known as Jehovah witnesses. You cannot believe John chapter one, verse one, and remain a Jehovah witness because the two things are absolutely contrary to themselves. I know that sometimes when we're taught to witness to the Jehovah witnesses, and I'm spending time here in this area because um, these folks are very, very active. And part of my responsibility as a pastor is to make sure that all of us are equipped to be able to stand our own biblically as it relates to these things, not be pulled in into this stuff. You know, the, the, in terms of Mormonism, the greatest number of their converts into Mormonism are with a Christian background. The Christians are untaught concerning the word. Now, sometimes when they say, well, listen, they have so muddied John chapter one, verse one, that you can't even use it in a discussion with them on your doorstep. I refuse to give them the verse. It may be rebellion on my part, but I refuse to lose so clear statement. And so when they're on my doorstep, I take and they come and they, and the opening statement is, isn't the world terrible and stuff. It certainly is. I'm tracking with you so far and I'm not fishing for a quarter, but, but you do this. It is, it's a mess and all, and they say the things and they have the little opening lines and stuff and you know, and people do all that stuff. And somewhere in the course of that, I will say, listen, I am a born again believer in Jesus Christ. The Bible has a position of authority within my life. Let's not go all around and all of the tangents and all you and I disagree in, in the place that is most important as it relates to Jesus Christ and the fact that he is God in human flesh. So let's go there. And I go to this verse here and I read it there for them. And they say, well, there's an A here in our translation. I say, go to any translation other than yours or any manuscripts that you can find in the world. And you will find nothing that supports the insertion of an A there because you have done it and you alone have done it. This verse teaches by the spirit of God, the deity of Jesus Christ. And so I hold on to the verse and I go there. And then the second place I go, I'll just tell you how I witnessed the witnesses. And I love them. They're both on my doorstep and I know who the discipler is and the disciple is, and I'm after both of them, but I'm really after that disciple. I'm really after that person. I want to plant things in their heart in a loving way and in a biblical way that by the time they leave my doorstep, go down the street, get in the car, and that older person tries to talk them out of the things that I have said before they even leave the neighborhood, that that will not be able to leave their heart because they're a true seeker after God. So the second place I always take them is to Hebrews chapter one. I don't know where I heard it initially, but I've adopted it as my own. And I say to them, I say, if I could show you in the Bible where the father calls Jesus God, would you believe that Jesus is God? And without variation, they say, well, that's not in the Bible. Is it? If I could show you in the Bible where the father calls the son, God, would you believe that Jesus is God? Well, it's, it's not, it's not in there. It's nowhere. Let me show you in a Psalm. You know, they try and pull you off. If I could show you in the Bible, if I could show you in the Bible, where the father calls the son, God, would you believe me? I believe you. If you showed me where the father called him called the son God, but it isn't in the Bible. So we go to Hebrews chapter one and then Hebrews chapter one, we read God who at various times and in different ways spoken time past to the fathers by the prophets has in these last days spoken to us by his son, whom he has appointed heir of all things through whom also he made the worlds 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 purged our sin sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, speaking of Jesus and the Jehovah witnesses teach that Jesus is an angel. And so having become so much better than the angels, you can't be better than the angels and an angel. But I don't really bog down there. I could, I do that with you, but I don't do that with others as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they for, to which of the angels did he, that is the father ever say, you are my son today, I have begotten you. And again, I will be to him a father and he will be to me a son. Well, the father never said that concerning an angel. He said it concerning his son. And when verse six, he again brings the firstborn into the world, he said, law, let all of the angels of God worship him. Jesus superior to the angels in that the angels worship Jesus. It is birth and the end of the angels. The father says, who makes his angels spirits and his ministers of flame of fire, but to the son. And here we are, but to the son, he, that is the father says your throne. Oh God, you have the father calling the son. God is for ever and ever a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore, God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. Now the really sharp folks on the doorstep there, they'll look and they'll say, well, you know, the term God that is used there. I mean, didn't the father call by the spirit of God in the Psalms, the judges of the old Testament gods, didn't he call them that again, in that sense that they were representing God in their judgments. And so this is just speaking of Jesus in that capacity. And when they say that to me, I know I've got a sharp one that I'm talking about. And I don't say that I love sharp ones because then I'm able to say, all right, I don't need to build my case. Even on the strength of that argument, notice in verse 10, and the father says to the son, you Lord and Lord is in all capital letters, which is a name for Jehovah or Yahweh in the old Testament. And you Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands. Everything gets quiet right there. And there is then at that point, an attempt to go to another passage someplace. And I stop here and I look and I say, here, you have the father telling us, calling the son, God, you have to believe what the father says. And in fact, Hebrews chapter one versus eight and 10 is so damaging to the false position of the Jehovah witnesses that I am told that when they are prepped to go door to door, they're never shown that passage because if they saw it on their own, it would stumble them out of their faith. And so when you speak it on your doorstep to them, most often through the years, the 20 some years that I have done that I am speaking to someone who is seeing that passage in that light for the first time. That's a time to pray, time to pray for them. And then I go to revelation chapter one, final book of the Bible, where you have Jesus ascribing deity to himself. And John one, one, you have the Holy spirit ascribing deity to Jesus. And Jenna in Hebrews chapter one, you have the father ascribing deity to Jesus. And then in revelation chapter one, you have Jesus ascribing deity to himself in chapter one, verse 10, where John writes and says, and I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. And I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet. And here's what he heard the voice saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. For those of you who are note takers, you write in your margin, Isaiah 41 chapter 41 verse four, because that's where the term Alpha and Omega is something that Jehovah uses to describe himself. It's a name for Jehovah in the old Testament. So here you have someone who is ascribing deity to themselves. I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last, they are calling themselves God. And then declaring to John, what you see right in a book and send it to the seven churches, which are in Asia to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia and to Laodicea. And then John verse 12, he turns to see the voice that spoke with him. And when he turned, he saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the seven lampstands, there was one like the son of God clothed with a garment down to his feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and his hair were white like wool as white as snow. And his eyes were a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass as if refined in a furnace and his voice as the sound of many waters. Here you have one of the two physical descriptions of Jesus in all of the Bible. One in the Old Testament, one in the New Testament. And he had in his right hand seven stars and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword. And his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. But he laid his right hand on me saying to me, do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am he who lives, was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of death. Now, Walter Martin tells a story about this. How many of you, just a show of hands, heard or saw Walter Martin before he went to be with the Lord? All the way up. Was he something? Man, talk about this. In Napa, where Karen's parents, my wife's parents live, they live out in the country. And there's a walk that I take when I go there once in a while. And one of the ranches on that walk, it has in these big, you know, poles up and then this title across the ranch as you enter in. And the name of the ranch is Never Give an Inch Ranch. You could use a few more Christians that didn't give up an inch, let alone the miles that are being given up today in some circles in terms of doctrine. But Walter Martin wouldn't give up an inch. He knew that by, I mean, he would quote this Bible by the chapter, and then all of their books. I know he had a reputation. They called him casually, you know, because I mean, when you would not face facts, I mean, when he made it as clear as clear could be, I mean, he could make it clear still. For everyone's embarrassment. I mean, you're listening in the car, you know, oh man, I feel bad and I'm not even there. I didn't make the phone call. Anybody else? You're looking at the other traffic. Oh man, I'm glad I'm not that guy. But I mean, he could really, really do it. And I don't, I don't think to this day, we have people who are different than Walter Martin, but I don't think we have anyone quite like him at this point on these issues. Walter Martin, when he was a young man, just coming out of Bible college and Bible school, he went to visit the Watchtower organization in Brooklyn, New York. And he knew he was going to head into apologetics. So he, I guess he began to visit all of these headquarters while he could anonymously. So he goes in there and he just asked for kind of a tour of the place and they show him where everything's being printed and all this. They gave him a fabulous tour and he's heading out and there's a man that's sitting at the desk there in the reception area. And as he walks out, he says to the man that's sitting at the desk, he said, if I could show you, that's where I got it. There we go. I told you I like this guy. Where Jesus declared himself to be, it's very adaptable as you, as you can, as I testified through now. But if I could show you where Jesus called himself divine in the scriptures, would you believe it? And, and so that whole conversation went on back and forth and all of that. And then, and then he sits in, as will happen with you as you go there. And, and the guy said, well, if you could show me then fine, but it's not there in the Bible. And Walter Martin, and those of you who knew him, I mean, you can picture it. He, the desk is right there. The guy's down there, the Bible's opened up and Walter Martin, not content to just read the verse. He pounds the desk. I am alpha and omega, the first and the last. And with every word kaboom, kaboom, kaboom, you know, you know, and he just lays the thing out and then he walks out of the place. Many years later, true story. Many years later, he's at a place speaking at a church and he always had these strict rules. Nobody could take over a meeting that Walter Martin was bad at. You could ask questions, but you didn't, it wasn't, they didn't come to hear whoever, they came to hear what he had to say and he maintained control of a room. And so a guy stood up and he said, he started to say something and, and it was obviously going to be something other than like a direct question to Walter Martin. And he said, he said, I think you'll want to hear this and Walter Martin, perhaps by the spirit of God, let him go. And he said, years ago, I sat at a receptionist desk at the Watchtower organization and you came in and he went through the whole thing and you pounded on that desk. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He said that night I went home and I laid down on my bed and I tried to go to sleep and it was like thunder in my ears. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. And he got down on his knees and he gave his life to the Lord on that. And so I always tell the folks that come to my doorstep from the Jehovah Witnesses that I can only explain to you why I believe in the deity of Jesus Christ. And I believe it because the Holy Spirit has declared it in John chapter one, verse one, and the Father has declared it in Hebrews chapter one, and Jesus himself has declared it in Revelation chapter one. The entirety of the Godhead declares. Now, who am I supposed to believe on this? I believe the Word of God and that's what I stick with. And then we leave it there and then I pray as they leave them that this will have its needed work within their lives, always with love. You know, knowledge passa, but love edifies. Lord, may they see the love in all of this too. And then usually they say, where do you go to church? I don't really tell them that I'm a pastor or anything like that. Because there's a whole trip that they go into on that and I don't want to muddy the waters. We've usually had a successful time by then. And then notice in verse two that he was in the beginning with God. And so here you have this declaration again where the Holy Spirit is reiterating that Jesus did not exist or did not come to exist at the beginning, but when there was the beginning that he was there with the Father, the eternal, that Jesus is eternal. And so in John chapter one, verse one, the pre-existence of God, plurality of the Godhead, and then the deity of Jesus Christ. And I see that I'm at 45 minutes with that. And it's kind of self-contained really. So we'll stop there tonight and we'll move on. This is the slowest we've ever probably gone on. We have set a record of some kind. But there's so much more in here that's just fascinating. And I love the chapter. Those of you who are familiar with the chapter, to me in my relationship with the Lord, I have a very, I have a very emotional relationship with the Lord. I love him with all of my heart. I love him with my mind and my soul and my strength. But for me, the emotion can never come before the understanding. What causes the worship to just explode forth in my life is when my mind understands the revelation of the scriptures concerning him. And then I meditate upon those truths. And then all of a sudden, it's just like too much. This is the one that came in human flesh and was concerned about a relationship with me. And so for me, always the one has followed the other. And that's why John, who was different, he was younger as it relates to the apostles. And he was the more, you know, he had that close personal relationship with Jesus, always sitting near him at the tables when there was the meals and all of that. And really, he's kind of the mystic of the New Testament. The relationship with the Lord is so important to him. But you know, when you go through the gospel and then you go into the epistles and then you go into the revelation, there's no deeper thought that goes on in the New Testament. I mean, to just sit down and go, what is this guy saying here? And yet, because he understood those things and brought them forward and had an appreciation on some level of those things, that's where all of that worship and all of that awe and all of that relationship came out of it. And so here he is, this mystic. And it's always nice when the mystics in the body of Christ are firmly grounded upon the truth of God's word.