Man, John chapter 1 is one of the most famous chapters in the Bible.
It's one of those classic chapters in the Bible that you read it over and over again
and you never get sick of it.
It's always beautiful, it's always sweet, and it's amazing how there are so many great
chapters like that in the Bible and you've heard them over and over again, you read them
over and over again, but you're always pulling out new gems, new truths, new wisdom.
Personally, the book of John is my favorite book in the whole Bible.
I love the book of John and it's a very unique book because it's the only book that claims
to be written to the unsaved in order to get them saved.
Let me just read for you this one verse, you don't have to turn there, but in chapter 20
verse 30 it says,
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 you might have life through his name.
So it says that the purpose of the book of John is that you might believe and that through
believing you might have life through his name.
Now another thing about the book of John that it's famous for is being the easiest book
in the Bible.
That's why when even people if they go to a seminary and they want to learn Greek and
say the Greek New Testament, they start them out in the book of John and say, hey, this
is going to be the easiest in Greek.
And in English when we win somebody to Christ and we give them a Bible, we often tell them
to start in the book of John.
When foreign missionaries go to another country and they want to preach to people who are
just brand new converts or not even saved yet and they want to just get some book of
the Bible into their language, usually they'll start by just translating the Gospel of John
as step one to getting the Word of God into that language.
And if the babies are crying, please take them to the mother baby rooms until they settle
down.
So the book of John is a powerful book to get people saved and then even after we're
saved, we still love to keep coming back and revisiting it and learning such great truths.
I love the simplicity of the Gospel of John, just the clearness and how we can just understand
it so clearly.
It's a great place to begin if you're a new Christian.
Look what it says in John chapter 1 verse 1.
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.
Now of course we know from a little bit later in this chapter that the context is Jesus
Christ.
This is one of the four Gospels giving us the life, death, burial, and resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ and he starts out with this teaching that right away just nails
down for you the deity of Christ and also nails down the doctrine of the Trinity because
he says, first of all, in the beginning was the Word.
So we know right away that Jesus Christ did not come into existence in Bethlehem's manger.
Jesus Christ was in the beginning.
He was already there.
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, the famous words that opened the
Bible itself.
Genesis 1, 1, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, well in the beginning
was the Word.
Before he created the heaven and the earth and everything that is in them, the Word,
which we know is Jesus Christ, was already there.
He said, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
Now that's a pretty powerful statement.
Now there are two heresies that people have regarding who Christ is.
One of them is a teaching that says that Christ is not God.
This is what the Jehovah's Witnesses believe, the Mormons believe, other cults that would
deny the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Well that's settled right here in John 1, 1 because it says the Word was God.
So there's the deity of Christ right there.
Then there's another heresy called Oneness Pentecostalism or Modalism which says, well
there's no Trinity, it's just that Jesus is God the Father in a different mode.
It's one person in three different modes.
Well that's destroyed right here in John 1, 1 because it says the Word was with God.
See if Modalism were true, it would just say in the beginning was the Word and the Word
was God.
But no, it says in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God.
In fact, if we look at the first two verses of this powerful book, the thing that's emphasized
the most is that he was with God.
Watch this.
In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God.
So we have two teachings here.
We have the teaching that Christ is God and then we have the teaching that Christ is with
God.
But then look at the second verse.
The same was in the beginning with God.
So what's the thing that's stated twice?
With God.
So what's emphasized?
The fact that he's God or the fact that he's with God is emphasized.
Why?
We need to understand the fact that the important teaching that's emphasized and reiterated
over and over again in the New Testament is the fact that Jesus is the Son of God.
Over and over again.
He's the Son of God.
The most famous verse.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth
in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
He that hath the Son hath life but he that not the Son shall not see life but the wrath
of God abideth on him.
Over and over again it's emphasized that the one who is the biggest liar is the one who
would deny that Jesus is the Son of God or that he's not the Christ of God, the Lord's
Christ.
Now you say, Pastor Anderson, how can he be both God and with God at the same time?
I don't get it.
It doesn't make sense to me.
Well because this would go over a lot of people's heads, that's why he repeats it twice, that
he was with God.
Because he doesn't want you to miss that important distinction.
And that's why the whole rest of the book of John explains very clearly and very thoroughly
how Jesus could both be God and be with God.
And that teaching that's found all throughout the book of John and elsewhere in the New
Testament, we know that teaching as the Trinity.
The idea that God is made up of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
And that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are all one God.
They all make up who that one God is.
See God is not just a oneness God, a one person like what the Muslims believe God is or what
the Jews believe God is or what the Hindus believe that God is.
He is actually a Trinity.
He's actually made up of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost which makes him unique to all the
false gods that are out there.
He's different than that.
He is made up of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
So when the Bible says in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, God there
is referring to God the Father.
Because all throughout the New Testament, the word God will sometimes be used simply
to refer to God the Father.
And sometimes it's used to refer to God in general, encompassing the entire Godhead.
And sometimes the word God just refers to the Son in the context.
So he says here the word was with God.
That means with God the Father.
Why?
Because Jesus Christ, the Word, the Son, was with God the Father.
But at the same time he was God.
Because he's not just the Son of God, he's also God himself.
He is God and he's the Son of God.
That can only make sense if the Trinity is there.
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost together making up who God is.
It says the same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made.
This is clear evidence in verse 3 that Jesus Christ is the creator.
Jesus is the one who created this earth.
Colossians chapter 1 makes that crystal clear when it says, specifically of Jesus, specifically
of the Son of God, that he created all things.
Let's keep reading here.
All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made.
Within him was life and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.
This is a pretty interesting verse.
When we think about the word comprehend, it simply means understand it, right?
So we think of comprende, if we're speaking Spanish, do you understand?
He's saying that the darkness did not understand the light.
The light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.
Why not?
Because the Bible says that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually
discerned.
It is not possible for the darkness to comprehend the light.
The unsaved man, the man who is in darkness, unregenerate man, the carnal mind cannot
understand the things of the Spirit of God.
That's why when we win someone to Christ, we have to explain it to them through the
Holy Spirit that's living inside of us.
See, we're saved.
We're the light of the world.
We have the Holy Ghost indwelling us, guiding us into all truth.
And so when we come to the Ethiopian eunuchs of this world and they're reading their Bible
and they can't comprehend it, they can't figure it out and we say to them, hey, understand
it's thou what thou readest?
And they say what?
How can I?
Except some man should guide me.
They need a man to guide them.
They need somebody to show them.
It's not enough for them to just pick up a Bible and start reading it.
No, they need some man to guide them.
But then once they're saved, the Bible says you need not that any man teach you, but as
the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lie.
And even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
He says that you have that unction from the Holy One.
You have that anointing.
You have the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth.
Then you don't need anybody to explain to you the Bible.
Isn't it great how we as children of God can just pick up our Bibles?
We don't need a commentary.
We don't need a study Bible.
We don't need somebody explaining it.
We can actually just open the Bible by ourselves each morning and just read those black words
on a white page and that's what I recommend.
Get the most basic Bible you can that just has the text.
This is a great example.
It's cheaper anyway, right?
Who needs all that other stuff, right?
You have this and you read this and the Holy Ghost will guide you into all truth and you
don't need someone to teach you.
You can figure out the doctrines on your own.
Now, if somebody teaches you, that's helpful.
God gave us teachers and pastors and preachers to help us grow in the Lord.
It's not like there's any doctrine that you have to have them show you because you can
get it all on your own.
There's nothing that I could teach you out of the Bible that you can't get on your own
at home, reading the Bible for yourself.
If I'm teaching something that only I have access to, it must be a false doctrine because
the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth.
The darkness, though, comprehends the light not.
They don't get it.
They don't understand.
You try to explain the Trinity to them.
They laugh at it.
They scoff at it.
They mock at it.
How can God be three persons?
How can God be the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost?
They'll make statements like, how could Jesus pray to himself?
He's not praying to himself.
The Son's praying to the Father.
Two persons.
Okay.
You know, what did he send himself?
No.
The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
But they don't get that.
They scoff at that.
Why?
Because the natural man received not the things of the Spirit of God.
The light shines.
When you read the book of John as a saved person, when I read the book of John, that's
the light.
I mean, this is the light shining in our minds and our hearts when we read it.
Right?
When we read this book, the light is shining.
And we get it.
Right.
Because we're the children of light.
But when you're in darkness, you don't comprehend the light, the Bible says.
It says in verse 6, there was a man sent from God whose name was John.
That's what I was saying about the very simple language of the book of John.
The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might
believe.
He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light.
That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
So we don't have to get very far in the book of John before we demolish another false doctrine.
We've already demolished the idea that Christ is not God.
We've already demolished the false teaching of modalism or oneness.
And now another false doctrine bites the dust because it says here that he came for a witness
to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe.
There goes Calvinism out the window.
This is a great book for new believers.
There goes Calvinism teaches that Christ only died for some.
He only came to save some.
He only desires or wills or intends to save some.
But the Bible says that the purpose of John the Baptist being sent was that all men through
him might believe.
You say, well, all men didn't believe.
Right.
But that's the goal.
That's the intent.
That's the opportunity.
They all have the opportunity.
They all might believe if they desire to.
Jesus says later in the book of John, but you will not come to me that you might have
life.
You're the one who doesn't want to come to me that you might have life.
But whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
It's available to all.
He came for a witness to bear witness of the light.
Not just so that a certain group would believe, but the goal was that all men through him
might believe.
So that does away with this idea of Calvinism, but not only that, it does away with this
idea that he's only being sent to the Jews.
You know, this is just for the Jews.
No, no, no.
It's for all men.
And even the Christmas story in Luke chapter 2, he said that he's bringing good tidings
of great joy, which shall be to all people.
So this does away with another false doctrine, dispensationalism, which states, oh, Christ
was just coming to save Israel, but then when they rejected him, he went to plan B, the
Gentiles.
The Gentiles are plan A. Why?
Because he always came to save the world, for the whole world.
Good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, for unto you is born this day
in the city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord.
And so what am I showing you here in John 1?
I'm showing you that even if we go back to the basics, the fundamentals, we go back to
the most basic chapter in the Bible.
Right?
This is the one where somebody just got saved five minutes ago.
This is where we tell them to start reading.
I mean, when my wife got saved before she was my wife, the next day after she got saved,
I handed her a Bible and said, all right, start reading John 1.
And you know what?
You already learned about the deity of Christ.
You already learned about the Trinity.
You learned that Calvinism is wrong.
You learned that dispensationalism is wrong.
We're nine verses in.
He said, it's all right there.
I mean, this is a deep, there's 1189 chapters of this.
It's just a few verses and there's so much great truth there.
He said, omen through him might believe.
And then he said in verse nine, that was the true light, which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world.
Just in case you think all doesn't really mean all there.
He said, every man that cometh into the world.
He said elsewhere that Christ tasted death for every man.
Verse number 10, he was in the world and the world was made by him.
Another crystal clear proof that Jesus Christ is the creator and the world knew him not.
He came unto his own and his own received him not.
He came unto the Jews, the house of Israel, the ones that should have received him the
most and they received him not.
But as many as received him, as many as did receive him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
Okay, we just defeated several more false doctrines just in that one verse.
Just in that one verse, Mormonism just got defeated because Mormonism teaches that everybody's
a son of God, everybody's a child of God.
We're all God's children.
You know, God's on another planet called Kolob with his wife having a bunch of spirit babies
and that's who we are.
And if we're black, we were the ones that weren't as good up there.
That's what they teach.
They're racist.
It's right there in the Book of Mormon.
But right here, the Bible's crystal clear that as many as received him, to them gave
he power to become the sons of God.
Look, you can't become something if you were already a son of God.
It's like, you just became a son of God.
Well, oh, but if we're all God's children, that would be meaningless.
See, we're not children of God until we receive Christ, until we believe on him.
And once we believe on him, he gives us power to become the sons of God and it's even to
those that believe on his name.
Well, there goes work salvation.
Work salvation just went out the window because the Bible says right here that it's as many
as received him.
It's as many as believed on his name.
It's not as many as went to church.
It's not as many as got baptized.
It's not as many kept the commandments.
It's not as many as repented of all their sins and turned over a new leaf and cleaned
up their life.
No, it's as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God.
And in case you don't know what he means by receiving him, he says even as many as believed,
even to them that believe on his name.
He makes it clear what it means to receive.
How do you receive Christ by believing on his name?
There goes another false doctrine that says, oh, well, you just kind of call out to God
as you know him.
You follow the light that you have, whether you're a Muslim or a Hindu.
You kind of just follow that light.
Well, he says it's the name.
You got to believe on his name.
There's a name associated with salvation.
That name is Jesus and neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
Billy Graham was on Larry King Live.
You say don't speak ill of the dead.
He's already been dead for decades.
He's been twice dead for a half a century.
Why?
Because these false prophets and false teachers, they're twice dead, the Bible says.
They're wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
And Billy Graham is on Larry King Live and he said that Hindus are going to heaven, Muslims
are going to heaven, you know, just as long as they're following the light that they have
and they don't even know the name of Jesus.
But that's not what the Bible says.
You got to believe on his name whereby we must be saved, not, well, you know, if you're
in America and you're raised Christian, you know.
But if you're in another country, it might be a different name.
No, there's only one name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
Now that name is rendered in different languages.
It could be Jesus or Jesus or Jesus or all the different variations of it as we get into
different languages, Jesus, Jesus, just different ways of saying it.
But it's that name, Jesus, that saves us.
That's how I got saved was by placing my trust and faith in Jesus, the Son of God, the name
of the Son, the name of Jesus Christ.
That is salvation.
Which were born, verse 13, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God.
There goes Zionism because the Bible tells us right here that the children of God, it's
not by blood.
It's not by some bloodline where they can say, oh, I'm a child of Abraham, you know,
I go back to Isaac and Jacob, I'm of Levi.
No, they're not born of blood.
They're not born because they have a bloodline that says that they're an Israelite.
John the Baptist preached, the man sent from God whose name was John said, think not to
say within yourselves we have Abraham to our father, for I say unto you that God is able
of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the tree.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.
You see, the Bible's crystal clear that the only way to be saved is by believing in Christ.
You become a child of God.
It's not by blood.
It's not like, oh, I'm a physical descendant.
That means nothing.
Avoid genealogies, the Bible tells us.
They're unprofitable and vain.
He says they're not born of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man,
but of God.
It doesn't matter what people's own will is of who they think should go to heaven or whether
they think this is the right way to get to heaven or this is what God's going to accept
or well, I just don't think it's fair for God to send these people there or I don't
think it's fair that that guy gets to go to heaven when he didn't live a good life in
my book and why would this guy that's a, no, no.
It's not your will, it's the will of the father.
And the will of the father is that everyone that sees and believes on the son would have
eternal life and that he would raise him up in the last day.
He said that's the will of my father, which is inevitable.
That's the will of God is that everyone who sees and believes might be saved.
Now you say I've never seen Jesus.
But faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.
It says in Hebrews chapter 2, but we see Jesus.
But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death
crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should taste death for every
man.
We see Jesus not with our physical eyes but through the eyes of faith by believing on
Christ we see Jesus.
The Bible says in verse number 14, and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and
we beheld his glory.
The glory is of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth.
There's the Trinity again, right?
He's the begotten of the father.
Now you say what does that mean to be the begotten of the father?
One of the important things that we've already learned in this chapter is that Jesus Christ
is not a created being but that he was already in the beginning with God and he was God.
So he's not a created being as people who would deny his deity would affirm.
But rather the Bible teaches that he is eternal.
Micah 5 2 says, but thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah, and if you would flip over
to Acts 13, keep your finger in John 1, but go to Acts 13, but thou Bethlehem in the land
of Judah are not the least among the princes of Judah for out of thee shall come a governor
who shall rule my people Israel whose goings forth are of old from everlasting.
So Jesus Christ is from everlasting.
He has neither beginning of days nor end of life, the Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter
7.
So Christ is eternal.
So some would question then, well how is he then the only begotten of the father?
How is it that he's begotten?
What does that mean to be begotten?
Well when we study the Bible we find that the word begotten has to do with a father
siring a child, right?
Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob.
Well the word begat literally means to bring into existence or to generate or to cause
to exist.
So when a father begets a son he's causing that life to be there, right?
He's bringing it into existence, he's generating a new life there by begetting a child.
Now the question is when did that happen?
Because the Bible says specifically the father tells the son thou art my son this day have
I begotten thee.
Now some people will misunderstand this where it says this day have I begotten thee?
And they'll think, oh that's when he's born.
Well that's not true because he was already the son of God in the beginning with God,
all right?
All the way back in the past.
And then some people would say, oh well, you know, he was begotten like right before God
created the earth.
You know, kind of in that little space there in the beginning, you know, and they'll say
that basically he's the first one who was ever created by God.
Well that's not true either because he's from everlasting, he is God.
Okay well look at Acts 13, let's figure out what day Jesus was begotten on because the
Bible tells us in Acts 13, there's no mystery, it says in verse 32 of Acts 13, and we declare
unto you glad tidings, or good news, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers
God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children in that he hath raised up Jesus again
as it is also written in the second Psalm, thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee.
According to the Bible itself, the fulfillment of Psalm 2 when it says thou art my son, this
day have I begotten thee, according to the Bible, that was at the resurrection of Jesus
Christ.
Psalm 2 was fulfilled at the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Now you say, Pastor Anderson, I don't get it, here's why, because at the resurrection
of Christ, Jesus was brought back to life, or generated, or brought into life again.
So he was begotten, that's why the Bible, you say I don't believe it, okay, Revelation
chapter 1 says that Jesus Christ is the first begotten of the dead.
He's the first begotten of the dead.
So it's not that Christ was begotten in Bethlehem's manger, or in Genesis 1-1, no, no, no.
Jesus Christ is the eternal son of God.
God eternally exists as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, eternity past, eternity future, but
when Jesus Christ rose from the dead, the Father said, thou art my son, this day have
I begotten thee.
And then if you get the context, what did he say next in Psalm 2?
He said, thou are my son, this day have I begotten thee.
Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost part
of the earth for thy possession.
Thou shall break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's
vessel.
Be wise now, therefore, ye kings.
Be instructed, ye judges of the earth, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but
a little.
Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
You know, that's all pointing toward what?
The second coming of Christ, when he rules and reigns, and when he rules over the nations
with a rod of iron.
Why?
Because that's what's in view as he's raising from the dead.
He rose the victor from the dark domain, and he lives forever with his saints to reign.
See, when he rose from the dead, the Father says, thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee.
Begotten him what?
From the dead.
And then he says, you're going to reign.
You're going to rule with a rod of iron.
It's all yours.
You're going to inherit all things.
So it makes perfect sense with just a little Bible study.
And I emphasize little, because you don't have to look far to find these answers.
It's all right here in chapter one of John, right?
So the Bible tells us that Jesus was the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth.
Now if you would, this, I didn't have this plan, but if you would flip over to John 5,
this is a pretty interesting point though while we're on that subject.
The Bible says in verse 26, this is pretty powerful, in fact, let's back up to verse
25, verily I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is, watch this, when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.
So who is it that's resurrecting the dead here?
Is it the Father or the Son?
They're going to hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live.
Verse 26, for as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in
himself, and have given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the Son of Man.
Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in the which that all that are in the graves
shall hear his voice.
Whose voice?
Jesus' voice.
Why?
Because he said at the end of verse 25, they shall hear the voice of the Son of God and
they that hear shall live.
Then it says in verse 28, marvel not for the hour is coming in the which all that are in
the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth.
They that have done good under the resurrection of life and they that have done evil under
the resurrection of damnation, I can of mine own self do nothing as I hear I judge and
my judgment is just because I seek not mine own will but the will of the Father which
hath sent me.
If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.
There is another that beareth witness of me and I know that the witness which he witnessed
of me is true.
Now what are we seeing here?
We're seeing here that the Father raised up Jesus Christ.
He begat him from the dead.
The first begotten of the dead, Jesus Christ, Revelation 1.
Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.
Who's going to beget us from the dead?
Physically, when we rise again one day when that trumpet sounds, you know who it's going
to be?
The Son of God.
We will hear the voice of the Son of God and be changed and be resurrected.
Why?
Because the Son has that same power that the Father has to raise us up from the dead.
So Jesus Christ, go back if you would to John chapter 1, the only begotten of the Father
is going to raise us up and beget us, which in a sense makes him our Father, Jesus.
Now it doesn't make him God the Father, that's modalism, that's heresy, that's oneness, Pentecostalism,
but it does make him our Father in the sense that he saved us.
See quicken it.
Look, we heard the voice of the Son of God when we got saved.
When I got saved, scriptures were shown to me from the Bible and I believed them.
Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God.
Jesus said, hear that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me has everlasting
life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life.
When we hear the voice of the Son of God.
Now you know what, when my mother read me those verses from the Bible, that was me hearing
the voice of the Son of God.
My mother was just a messenger that he used, but it was the words that came from God.
The Bible says when we recognize God's word, that's us hearing the voice of the shepherd,
knowing the voice of the shepherd.
It doesn't matter whether it's a man, woman, boy, or girl speaking these scriptures, we're
hearing the voice of the Son of God.
If we hear that and believe that, we have life, we're saved, right?
That's our spiritual resurrection.
The moment that we believe on Christ, our dead spirit is quickened, but one day there's
going to be a bodily resurrection, a physical resurrection.
When the trumpet sounds, we shall all be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye and
at that point, the Son of God will be the one who brings us from the grave.
That's what is meant there when it says he's the only begotten of the Father.
It's clear that thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee is the resurrection because
that's what it says in Acts 13, 33.
That was first shown to me when I was 18 years old.
I sat in a car in Germany with a Baptist missionary and he said, Brother Steve, do you know the
day that is meant when it says thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee?
I said, I don't know.
I said, I don't know what day that is.
I'd only read the Bible cover to cover like once.
I was still learning a lot.
I'm still learning a lot today, but I was learning even more back then because I'd only
read the Bible cover to cover once.
I was on my second, maybe third time through and he said, you know what day that is?
I said, I don't know.
He said, let me show you.
He showed me Acts 13, 33 and I said, what does it mean?
He said to me, well, first of all, before I tell you what it means, you just have to
believe it because that's what it says.
And I said, yeah, you're right.
That is what it says.
It says that the day that he begat him was when he was raised again from the dead.
He said, it doesn't matter what you think it means.
What matters is that that's what the Bible says.
Believe it.
And then it clicked with me like, oh yeah, he's the first begotten of the dead.
And it clicked with me and I was like, wow, that's right.
And he said, yep, you got it right.
Exactly.
But I thought that was good that he just said, well, that's what it says, whether you can
explain it or not.
That's what it says.
So you got to, you got to figure out what it means.
And I figured out what it meant because I thought of that verse.
He's the first begotten from the dead.
So the Bible here has that teaching.
Look at John chapter 15, John bare witness of him and cried.
Now, this is not saying he wept as in shed tears.
Cried in the Bible is an older word, cry, meaning to cry out or to shout or yell.
So Jesus preaching loudly, I'm sorry, John the Baptist in this case, but Jesus did preach
loudly too.
Amen.
John chapter 7 says that he cried out.
But in John the Baptist case here, he cried saying, this was he of whom I spake.
He that coming after me is preferred before me for he was before me.
Now what's interesting about this is that John the Baptist is three months older than
Jesus physically.
John the Baptist is three months older than Jesus, but he says he was before me, which
proves that he existed before Bethlehem's major.
And he's preferred before John the Baptist.
John the Baptist says, I got to take a back seat to Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ
is greater.
He said he was preferred before me and of his fullness have all we received and grace
for grace.
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
No man has seen God at any time.
The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
So again, this is another very strong teaching on the Trinity because it says right there
that no man has seen God at any time.
Now we know that people have seen Jesus, right?
So this is obviously referring to God the Father.
No man has seen God at any time, referring to the Father.
The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
Now this makes a lot of sense when you read this in John 1.
And it really clears up a lot of confusion that certain people had in the Old Testament.
I was just reading in the Old Testament a few days ago and people were freaking out
because they saw the angel of the Lord and they said, what are we going to do?
We're going to die.
We've seen God.
We're going to die.
Why?
Because in the Mosaic law, the Bible says that the Lord told Moses, no man can see my
face and live.
He said, no man shall see my face and live.
So throughout the Old Testament, people are scared of that.
And there are a few times when they actually see God and then they don't die.
And they're like, we're going to die.
And no, but we're not dying though.
How can that be?
Because there's a clear example of the Lord walking right up to Abraham and talking to
him face to face in Genesis chapter 18.
In Genesis chapter 18, the Lord walks right up to Abraham in the heat of the day, Abraham
standing in the door of his tent and he has his two angels with him and he walks up and
he speaks with Abraham face to face.
The two angels are sent to Sodom and he continues there alone with Jehovah.
With the Lord, capital L capital O capital R capital E. How can these things be?
How can it be that the Lord Jehovah God can walk up to Abraham and talk to him, but then
elsewhere God is saying, no man could see my face and live.
Now some people would look at that and say, oh, it's a contradiction in the Bible because
these people are dwelling in darkness.
They don't comprehend the truths of God's word, but you know, John one makes it crystal
clear how that could happen because that person who walked up to Abraham was Jesus.
It was an Old Testament manifestation of Jesus.
He walks up to him and, and I did a whole sermon on this called Old Testament appearances
of Jesus.
There are a lot of really interesting instances in the Old Testament.
Like for example, what about in Daniel chapter three when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
are in the fiery furnace.
Who's that fourth man in the fire?
Said, lo, I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire and they have no hurt
and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
They saw the Son of God.
They saw Jesus.
And you know who the Lord Jehovah God was that walked up to Abraham?
It was Jesus.
Why?
Because Jesus is God.
Because the word was in the beginning with God and he was God.
And that term, the Lord Jehovah God, encompasses all of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, including Jesus.
So then it makes sense that, okay, they've seen the Son, but who have they not seen?
They haven't seen the Father.
And that's why later in the book of John, Jesus says, well, not that any man has seen
the Father, save he that is of God.
He has seen the Father.
Who's that?
Jesus.
Jesus is saying, I've seen the Father, but no man living on earth could say, hey, I've
seen God the Father.
No, they saw Jesus.
Now someday, way off in the future, even after the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, all
the way in Revelation chapter 22, we will finally see the Father.
After death has been completely destroyed, after the great white throne in the eternal
state, we will see his face and his name will be in our foreheads.
But that's a long way off.
So it makes sense that nobody's ever seen the Father, but we've seen the Son.
And that's why when they say, well, show us the Father, Jesus said, if you've seen
me, you've seen the Father.
And people will again twist that to say, well, Jesus is God the Father.
But if you actually read the next verse, he says, believe it or not that I'm in the Father
and the Father in me.
See he explains what he means by it in the next verse.
And just because you're in someone, guess what, that doesn't make you that person.
I mean, think about it, the Holy Spirit's in me.
Does that make me the Holy Spirit?
Christ is in you, the hope of glory.
Are you Christ?
It's blasphemy, right?
Why?
Because Jesus is in the Father, the Father's in him, but Jesus does not equal God the Father.
Okay, see, Jesus said, not that any man has seen the Father, but he said, but he that
is of God, he has seen the Father.
That's not him looking in a mirror.
That's Jesus the Son seeing the Father, all right?
So anyway, let's get back to John chapter 1 here.
He said, no man has seen God at any time.
The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
And this is the record of John.
When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who art thou?
And he confessed and denied not, but confessed, I'm not the Christ.
And they asked him, what then, art thou Elias?
He said, I'm 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?
He said, I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness.
Make straight the way of the Lord.
Referring to who?
Jesus, right?
He's making straight the way of Jesus, because Jesus is showing up right after him.
He said, make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet, as Zias.
And they which were sent were of the Pharisees.
And they asked him and said unto him, why baptizest thou then if thou be not that Christ
nor Elias, neither that prophet?
John answered them, saying, I baptize with water, but there standeth one among you whom
ye know not.
He it is who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoes latch it I'm not worthy
to unloose.
These things were done in Bethabara, beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.
The next day, John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, behold, the lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world.
This is he of whom I said, after me cometh a man, which is preferred before me, for he
was before me.
And I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come
baptizing with water.
And John bare record, this is really interesting, watch this.
And John bare record, saying, I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it
abode upon him, and I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same
said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the spirit descending and remaining on him, the
same as he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost, and I saw and bare record that this is the
Son of God.
So what's he saying?
He's saying when I first saw Jesus, I did not realize that it was the Son of God that
I was looking at.
I didn't realize it was Jesus.
Why?
Because Jesus looked like an ordinary guy.
That's why he said, there stands one among you whom ye know not.
He said, look, somebody out there, even while I'm preaching right now, is the one I'm preaching
about, the Lord, the Son of God, the Word of God made flesh, you know, he's out there.
I mean, people are like, whoa, where is he?
We don't know him, right?
And then when he sees Jesus, and identifies him as the, he says, behold the Lamb of God,
this is him.
This is who I was talking about, that's preferred before me.
And he says, I knew him not, meaning, when I first saw him, I didn't recognize him.
I didn't identify him, but, verse 33, I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with
water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining
on him, the same as he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost.
So how did John the Baptist identify Jesus?
How did he know which one was Jesus?
He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting a ball.
Otherwise he wouldn't have known.
Because Jesus looked like an ordinary God.
But when he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and remaining on him, he knew.
This is him.
Why?
Because he that sent him to baptize with water told him, that's what you're looking for.
So what do we have here?
The whole Trinity, right here.
We have the Father telling John the Baptist, you're going to see a man and the Spirit of
God descending upon him, and that's how you'll know he's the Son of God.
So what is it?
The Father telling John the Baptist, you'll know the Son when you see the Spirit descending
on him.
There's all three right there.
You don't have to get that deep into the book of John to get the whole Trinity.
And I mean, good night.
By the time you get to chapters 14 and chapter 16, you're learning all kinds of great teaching
about the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in chapters 14 and all throughout the book of John up
to that point.
And so it's not an accident that John chapter 1 was written, basically, and written to provide
so much fundamental doctrine.
Isn't it interesting that God picked one book in the New Testament, out of all the books
that he inspired, out of all the word that's there, he picked one book and said, okay,
this is the book that is written that you might believe, and that believing you might
have life through his name.
So he picked this one book to be the one to reach the lost with.
He picked this one book to be written in the simplest language, to be written in the way
that's the easiest to understand, the simplest English, the simplest even in the original
Greek.
Just the simplest book, the book that would be translated into all languages, the book
that would be handed to new believers millions and millions of times, here, start here in
the book of John, the book that would be printed millions and millions and millions
of times as just a John and Romans, here, start with this, John and Romans, he picked
this book and this chapter is the first chapter in that book and it just demolishes so much
false doctrine.
I mean, this will start you off on the right foot as a Christian.
I mean, if you're a baby Christian, you wake up on morning number 1 in your new life in
Christ and you read this chapter, you're off to a great start.
And you know what, you also don't have an excuse for believing in this dumb stuff.
How can you say, well, I didn't know that modalism was a false doctrine.
Well, did you read John chapter 1?
I didn't know that Jesus Christ was God.
Did you read John 1?
I didn't know that Calvinism was a lie.
Did you read John 1?
I didn't know dispensationalism and Zionism were stupid.
Did you read John 1?
But I didn't realize that salvation is by faith.
I thought it was by works.
Did you read John 1?
Did you read the other 89 times in the book of John that tells you that it's by believing
that you're saved?
Ninety times in the book of John alone tells us believe?
John chapter 1, it's a powerful chapter.
But I submit to you that every other chapter in the Bible is just as great as John chapter
1 is.
Now John chapter 1 has a special place in our hearts.
John chapter 1, we like it because it's easy.
We like it because we understand it, because it makes sense to us.
We like it because it covers such a great gamut of subject matter.
We like it because it's about our favorite person, Jesus.
We like it because it exalts our favorite name, Jesus.
We like it because of the fact that it's perfect, that it's beautiful, that it's the
word of God, and we love the voice of Jesus.
We love the name of Jesus.
We love to read about Jesus in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John.
But my favorite of these is John.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, a lamp to our feet, a light to our path,
Lord God.
I pray that every single day, Lord, every person that's under the sound of my voice
would read this book every day of their life and be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding
in the work of the Lord.
Help every single person to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ, Lord.
Help us to study, to show ourselves approved.
Help us to read our Bibles and learn the truth so that we're not carried about with every
wind of doctrine.
Lord, help us not to be deceived by the cunning craftiness of all the different false prophets
that hit us from so many different angles, Lord.
Help us to start here in John chapter 1, read it, memorize it, love it, and then help
us to read the rest of the Bible, Lord, and continue to grow and learn and understand
the unsearchable riches of Christ.
And it's in the name of Jesus Christ we pray these things, amen.