WEBVTT 00:00:04.048 --> 00:00:06.753 One of my favorite Bible teachers was Martin Lloyd-Jones. 00:00:06.753 --> 00:00:16.094 He was a pastor of a great church in London in the mid-60s and 70s, 1970s and 60s. 00:00:16.094 --> 00:00:24.871 He was a well-known preacher and he preached a sermon from the story of the woman at the well which, if you were here last weekend, tyler preached. 00:00:24.871 --> 00:00:34.006 From John 4 in the story of the woman at the well, which, if you were here last weekend, tyler preached from John 4 in the story of the woman at the well, but it's so appropriate to what God's already been speaking, let me read it to you. 00:00:34.006 --> 00:00:43.231 He said Possibly one of the most devastating things that can happen to us as Christians is that we cease to expect anything to happen. 00:00:43.231 --> 00:00:48.631 I am not sure, but that is not one of our greatest troubles today. 00:00:48.631 --> 00:00:56.909 We come to our services and they are orderly, they are nice, we come, we go and sometimes they are timed almost to the minute. 00:00:56.909 --> 00:00:57.911 And there it is. 00:00:57.911 --> 00:01:01.189 But that is not Christianity, my friends. 00:01:01.189 --> 00:01:03.499 Where is the Lord of glory? 00:01:03.499 --> 00:01:06.609 Where is the one sitting by the well? 00:01:06.609 --> 00:01:08.763 Are we expecting him? 00:01:08.763 --> 00:01:11.126 Do we anticipate this? 00:01:11.126 --> 00:01:12.650 Are we open to it? 00:01:12.650 --> 00:01:19.448 Are we aware that we are ever facing the glorious possibility of having the greatest surprise of our life? 00:01:19.448 --> 00:01:27.653 Or let me put it like this you may feel and say as many do I was converted and became a Christian. 00:01:27.653 --> 00:01:41.734 I've grown yes, I've grown in knowledge, I've been reading books, I've been listening to sermons, but I've arrived now at a sort of peak and all I do is maintain that For the rest of my life. 00:01:41.734 --> 00:01:42.942 I will go on like this. 00:01:42.942 --> 00:01:47.293 Now, my friend, you must get rid of it once and forever. 00:01:47.293 --> 00:01:48.804 That is religion. 00:01:48.804 --> 00:01:50.370 It is not Christianity. 00:01:50.370 --> 00:01:53.040 This is Christianity. 00:01:53.040 --> 00:02:01.790 The Lord appears suddenly in the midst of the strudgery and the routine and the sameness and the dullness and the drabness. 00:02:01.790 --> 00:02:17.848 Unexpectedly, surprisingly, he meets with you and he says something to you that changes the whole outlook of your life and your outlook and lifts you up to a level that you may not have ever conceived is possible. 00:02:17.848 --> 00:02:22.645 Oh, if we get nothing else from this story, I hope we will get this. 00:02:22.645 --> 00:02:33.920 Do not let the devil persuade you that you have got all you are going to get, still less that you have received all you are going to receive when you are converted. 00:02:33.920 --> 00:02:37.790 That has been a popular teaching, even among evangelicals. 00:02:37.790 --> 00:02:43.750 You get everything at your conversion, it's said, including the Spirit, and nothing further ever. 00:02:43.750 --> 00:02:45.234 Oh, do not believe it. 00:02:45.234 --> 00:02:46.504 It is not true. 00:02:46.504 --> 00:02:49.329 It is not true to the teaching of the scripture. 00:02:49.329 --> 00:02:50.585 It is not true. 00:02:50.585 --> 00:03:01.054 In the experience of the saints running down the centuries, there is always the glorious possibility of meeting with him in a new and dynamic way. 00:03:01.054 --> 00:03:07.004 Isn't that awesome Turn in your Bibles? 00:03:07.064 --> 00:03:11.724 To the Gospel of John, john 1. 00:03:11.724 --> 00:03:17.217 And I have the privilege of opening this new series. 00:03:17.217 --> 00:03:18.342 It's our Christmas series. 00:03:18.342 --> 00:03:20.027 Is Jesus Worthy? 00:03:20.027 --> 00:03:23.905 And I'm honored to be asked to open it? 00:03:24.306 --> 00:03:27.712 Let's read the first five verses of John 1. 00:03:27.712 --> 00:03:32.588 Would you mind standing as the word of God is preached and recited? 00:03:32.588 --> 00:03:34.453 Thank you. 00:03:34.453 --> 00:03:45.786 In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God. 00:03:45.786 --> 00:03:48.431 He was in the beginning with God. 00:03:48.431 --> 00:03:53.570 All things were made through him and without him was not anything made. 00:03:53.570 --> 00:03:58.348 That was made In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 00:03:58.348 --> 00:04:03.985 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. 00:04:03.985 --> 00:04:07.332 Thank you for these words that opened the Gospel of John. 00:04:07.432 --> 00:04:18.589 Father, help us to penetrate into their meaning this morning and begin this great season of Christmas with a reminder that you are from eternity past. 00:04:18.589 --> 00:04:23.192 You have always been and you didn't have your beginnings in the manger. 00:04:23.192 --> 00:04:27.846 You did on earth, but that you had your beginnings in eternity past. 00:04:27.846 --> 00:04:29.793 In fact, that's not even accurate, father. 00:04:29.793 --> 00:04:31.139 You had no beginning. 00:04:31.139 --> 00:04:32.862 Your Son has no beginning. 00:04:32.862 --> 00:04:35.447 He is the great I Am. 00:04:35.447 --> 00:04:36.990 In Jesus' name. 00:04:36.990 --> 00:04:38.552 We pray, amen. 00:04:38.552 --> 00:04:47.201 You may be seated A couple of weeks. 00:04:47.221 --> 00:05:05.605 A few weeks ago, when I preached, I recited again my testimony how the Lord saved my brother, who was a drug addict in Florida, and he began to chase after me, praying for me, and I was condemned to salvation and I succumbed in 1971. 00:05:05.605 --> 00:05:15.528 But looking back though, I realize now that that was not my first thought about Jesus, my brother's testimony. 00:05:15.528 --> 00:05:34.901 Actually, I grew up in Philadelphia in a Jewish home and in a Jewish Italian neighborhood, and when I was about seven or eight, one Christmas Eve, while walking past my Italian neighbor's house, I heard the words of the Christmas carol Noel. 00:05:34.901 --> 00:05:40.869 Noel born is the king of Israel and, being Jewish, I didn't know what that meant. 00:05:40.869 --> 00:05:43.389 I thought Noel was Leon spelled backwards. 00:05:43.389 --> 00:05:49.601 Didn't know what that meant. 00:05:49.601 --> 00:05:59.423 I thought Noel was Leon spelled backwards Because I had the typical ideas about Jesus that he was a Jew who somehow became a Gentile and converted to be a Catholic priest and went around Israel sprinkling people with holy water. 00:05:59.423 --> 00:06:00.343 I'm serious. 00:06:00.343 --> 00:06:03.865 That was my thoughts about Christianity. 00:06:03.865 --> 00:06:11.112 Nevertheless, I wondered why this song said he was born the king of Israel. 00:06:11.112 --> 00:06:21.040 It was much later, when I was almost 18, that I came to understand what it means that he is the king of Israel, and I surrendered my life to him. 00:06:21.060 --> 00:06:23.362 Now we're beginning our Christmas series this morning. 00:06:23.362 --> 00:06:28.927 The series asks the question and answers the question is Jesus worthy? 00:06:28.927 --> 00:06:34.651 The theme of this message is Jesus is eternally worthy. 00:06:34.651 --> 00:06:37.612 Jesus is eternally worthy. 00:06:37.612 --> 00:06:48.783 Sadly, many people still perceive him to be a mere human being, perhaps unique among men, yet still a mere human. 00:06:48.783 --> 00:06:54.293 Some of the cults, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, think of him as just a little more than a created being. 00:06:54.293 --> 00:07:08.024 In fact, the Watchtower Bible, the Bible of the Jehovah's Witnesses, starts and says in the beginning was the Word, the word was with God, the word was a God. 00:07:08.024 --> 00:07:09.970 And they insert the preposition a. 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:25.612 But these verses in John set Jesus apart from every human being that had ever lived, not because he did extraordinary miracles or taught truth about God and man that far exceeded any other teachers. 00:07:25.612 --> 00:07:32.206 Rather, it was because of his place of origin that made him absolutely unique. 00:07:32.206 --> 00:07:51.127 Matthew in Luke's gospel tell us the story of his birth from the human perspective, that God chose to impregnate a virgin so she would give birth to a baby boy and that boy would experience the normal growth pattern of human development, luke tells us. 00:07:51.127 --> 00:07:58.127 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him. 00:07:58.127 --> 00:08:09.427 By the way, this raises the question if the most important thing about Jesus was to come to earth to die on our behalf, why did he live into his 30s? 00:08:09.427 --> 00:08:14.430 Why not die as a baby or as a teenager? 00:08:14.430 --> 00:08:24.134 The answer is that his atonement required him not merely to die on our behalf, but to live on our behalf as well. 00:08:24.134 --> 00:08:29.190 He had to live a perfect life as a Jew under the law. 00:08:29.660 --> 00:08:31.166 Theologians give a term for this. 00:08:31.166 --> 00:08:34.649 They call it his active and passive obedience. 00:08:34.649 --> 00:08:41.015 Passive meant his death on the cross, while active meant his perfect life lived under the law. 00:08:41.015 --> 00:08:46.452 He never sinned and perfectly lived his life in obedience to the law. 00:08:46.452 --> 00:08:53.626 It's just amazing when you think about it, but that's not the perspective that John gives us when it comes to Jesus' point of origin. 00:08:53.626 --> 00:09:04.210 He begins his account not with Bethlehem and the babe born there, but with the fact that his own beginnings were an eternity past in the Godhead. 00:09:05.532 --> 00:09:13.211 So in these opening verses in John's gospel, it's clear that Jesus is eternally worthy for the following four reasons. 00:09:13.211 --> 00:09:15.682 Number one he is the word. 00:09:15.682 --> 00:09:17.989 In the beginning was the word. 00:09:17.989 --> 00:09:19.633 He is the word. 00:09:19.633 --> 00:09:25.650 Number two he was in fellowship with the members of the Godhead in eternity past. 00:09:25.650 --> 00:09:28.568 The Word was with God. 00:09:28.568 --> 00:09:35.253 Number three he is equal with the Father and the Spirit and the Word was God. 00:09:35.253 --> 00:09:46.722 And finally, number four, he was the agent through which all things exist, came into being, all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 00:09:46.722 --> 00:09:50.470 So let's look at those four things in this message. 00:09:51.030 --> 00:09:58.798 First one John begins his account identifying him as the word In the beginning was the word, the Greek word. 00:09:58.798 --> 00:10:09.455 Translated word is the Greek word logos, and it has multiple meanings, including word, speech, utterance or message. 00:10:09.455 --> 00:10:21.196 In Greek philosophy, logos was an important personal force that represented the ultimate reality behind all things, logos. 00:10:21.196 --> 00:10:26.993 There was a Jewish Alexandrian philosopher who lived around the time of Jesus, named Philo. 00:10:26.993 --> 00:10:28.682 You may have heard of him. 00:10:28.682 --> 00:10:39.691 He used the term Logos to describe an intermediary between God and man, and many believe that John actually borrowed his concept of Logos from Philo. 00:10:39.691 --> 00:10:52.894 Now, it's true that there are many similarities between Philo and John's Logos, but there's one major difference John's Logos is a person who became flesh and blood and dwell among us. 00:10:52.894 --> 00:10:57.072 He was literally a man as well as God. 00:10:58.019 --> 00:11:06.548 The Apostle Paul in Colossians states that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 00:11:06.548 --> 00:11:09.225 Colossians 1.15. 00:11:09.225 --> 00:11:11.163 Listen to that. 00:11:11.163 --> 00:11:13.028 He is the image of the invisible God. 00:11:13.028 --> 00:11:23.274 Did you know God is invisible, and did you know that Jesus is his image, the firstborn of all creation? 00:11:23.274 --> 00:11:27.270 God is invisible even as human thought is invisible. 00:11:27.270 --> 00:11:31.971 Until a word is spoken, thought cannot be understood. 00:11:31.971 --> 00:11:34.905 Let me demonstrate that I'm thinking of a word right now. 00:11:34.905 --> 00:11:41.125 Please tell me what it is Popcorn, bingo, popcorn? 00:11:41.125 --> 00:11:47.086 No, it wasn't popcorn. 00:11:47.086 --> 00:11:50.785 Can you tell me what my word is? 00:11:50.785 --> 00:11:51.509 You can't why? 00:11:51.509 --> 00:11:53.126 Because thought is invisible. 00:11:53.126 --> 00:11:56.028 But the moment I speak a word it was cat. 00:11:56.028 --> 00:12:05.254 The moment I speak a word, the concept becomes real and tangible, and I understand it. 00:12:09.981 --> 00:12:18.407 In verse 18 of John 1, john says this no one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the Father's side. 00:12:18.407 --> 00:12:20.732 He has made him known. 00:12:20.732 --> 00:12:22.426 No one has ever seen God. 00:12:22.426 --> 00:12:28.605 One translation of that is God only begotten, who is in the bosom of the Father. 00:12:28.605 --> 00:12:32.352 I love that he's in the bosom of the Father in eternity past. 00:12:32.352 --> 00:12:36.407 And then it reads only God who is in the bosom of the Father. 00:12:36.407 --> 00:12:42.845 He has interpreted him, or get this literally in Greek he has exegeted him. 00:12:42.845 --> 00:12:53.892 Exegese is a term used of interpreting texts of scripture and John tells us that Jesus exegetes the Father. 00:12:53.892 --> 00:12:59.192 There's no way to understand the Father except through the Son who is his exegete. 00:12:59.192 --> 00:13:02.701 The term exegete is a powerful term here. 00:13:02.701 --> 00:13:07.100 John uses it to teach that only the son interprets the father. 00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:12.688 Clearly, at first we might take issue with this statement. 00:13:12.688 --> 00:13:14.991 No one has ever seen God. 00:13:14.991 --> 00:13:22.128 But Moses was given a glance of God. 00:13:22.128 --> 00:13:27.436 Remember when he said to God at Sinai show me your glory. 00:13:27.436 --> 00:13:32.349 And God said I can't, no one can see my face, because if you do you'll die. 00:13:32.349 --> 00:13:42.190 But he said I'll hide you in the cleft of the rock and then you will see my back, but you cannot see my face, for no one shall see me and live. 00:13:42.190 --> 00:13:44.966 But Isaiah was allowed to see him. 00:13:44.966 --> 00:13:48.702 In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord. 00:13:48.702 --> 00:13:51.386 I think that was just quoted a little while ago. 00:13:51.386 --> 00:14:00.147 In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord, but who did they see? 00:14:00.147 --> 00:14:05.154 They only saw the one who is in the bosom of the Father. 00:14:05.154 --> 00:14:11.173 This is the only way that anyone has ever seen God Right. 00:14:14.160 --> 00:14:28.649 The second thing we note about John 1 is he was in not only the word, but the word was in fellowship with the other members of the Godhead in eternity past the word was with God. 00:14:28.649 --> 00:14:39.527 You know, I've heard people say the reason God created man is he was bored in heaven and he wanted someone to fellowship with. 00:14:39.527 --> 00:14:41.581 So he created human beings for that image. 00:14:41.581 --> 00:14:44.928 I can guarantee you God wasn't bored. 00:14:44.928 --> 00:14:47.881 You say, what was God doing in eternity past? 00:14:47.881 --> 00:14:50.791 Having fellowship, father, son and Holy Spirit. 00:14:50.791 --> 00:14:55.586 How can they be bored, having perfect fellowship with each other? 00:14:55.586 --> 00:15:02.768 But it was there in eternity past that the members of the Godhead worked out their perfect plan of redemption. 00:15:03.269 --> 00:15:32.668 Listen to a sermon from Charles Spurgeon who said in eternity past, the Father swore, quote I, the Most High Jehovah, do hereby give unto my only begotten and well-beloved son a people countless beyond the numbers of stars, who shall be by him washed from sin, preserved and kept and led, and by him at last presented before my throne without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. 00:15:32.668 --> 00:15:44.133 I covenant by oath and swear by myself, because I can swear by no greater that these whom I now give to Christ shall be forever the objects of my eternal love. 00:15:44.133 --> 00:15:45.738 Then I will forgive them. 00:15:45.738 --> 00:15:47.982 I will forgive through the merit of the blood. 00:15:47.982 --> 00:15:58.913 To these will I give a perfect righteousness, these will I adapt up and make my sons and daughters, and these shall reign with me through Christ eternally. 00:15:58.913 --> 00:16:07.313 The son says my father, on my part, I covenant that in the fullness of time I will become man. 00:16:07.760 --> 00:16:12.371 I will take upon myself the form and nature of the fallen race. 00:16:12.371 --> 00:16:18.332 I will live in their wretched world and for my people I will keep the law perfectly. 00:16:18.332 --> 00:16:20.500 Wretched world. 00:16:20.500 --> 00:16:21.623 And for my people I will keep the law perfectly. 00:16:21.623 --> 00:16:25.510 I will work out a spotless righteousness which shall be acceptable in the demands of thy just and holy law. 00:16:25.510 --> 00:16:28.644 In due time I will bear the sins of my people. 00:16:28.644 --> 00:16:30.950 They shall exact their debts on me. 00:16:30.950 --> 00:16:36.967 The chastisement of their peace I will endure, and by my stripes they shall be healed. 00:16:36.967 --> 00:16:43.788 My Father, I covenant and promise that I will be obedient to death, even the death of the cross. 00:16:43.788 --> 00:16:46.798 I will magnify thy law, make it honorable. 00:16:46.798 --> 00:16:49.668 I will suffer all they ought to have suffered. 00:16:49.668 --> 00:16:56.445 I will endure the curse of the law and all the vials of wrath shall be emptied and spent upon my head. 00:16:56.445 --> 00:16:59.889 I will then rise again, I will ascend into heaven. 00:16:59.889 --> 00:17:01.652 I will intercede into heaven. 00:17:01.652 --> 00:17:18.634 I will intercede for them at the right hand and I will make myself responsible for every one of them, that not one of them, whom thou has given me, shall ever be lost, but I will bring all my sheep on whom by my blood thou has constituted me shepherd. 00:17:18.634 --> 00:17:22.887 I will bring everyone safe to you at last. 00:17:23.608 --> 00:17:26.394 Wow, unbelievable. 00:17:26.394 --> 00:17:38.613 I think he was 21 when he preached that they determined the Godhead, that they would extend to the creatures made in their image and likeness the fellowship they enjoyed among themselves. 00:17:38.613 --> 00:17:43.782 He determined the Godhead that they would extend to the creatures made in their image and likeness, the fellowship they enjoyed among themselves. 00:17:43.782 --> 00:17:52.035 And that son, the son of the divine Trinity, was at the center of the plan, for he was with God, having perfect fellowship with him. 00:17:52.035 --> 00:18:03.527 You know, you can see this in another chapter in the book of Proverbs. 00:18:03.527 --> 00:18:05.858 Of all books, chapter 8 gives us a picture of the perfect fellowship that existed between the Son and the Father. 00:18:05.878 --> 00:18:11.923 It says the Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old Ages ago. 00:18:11.923 --> 00:18:16.932 I was set up as the first before the foundation of the world, when there were no depths. 00:18:16.932 --> 00:18:18.915 I was brought forth when there were no springs abounding with water before the foundation of the world, when there were no depths. 00:18:18.915 --> 00:18:26.363 I was brought forth when there were no springs abounding with water before the mountains had been shaped with water had been shaped before the hills. 00:18:26.363 --> 00:18:32.884 I was brought forth Before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world. 00:18:32.884 --> 00:18:37.750 When he established the heavens, I was there when he drew a circle on the face of the deep. 00:18:37.750 --> 00:18:38.958 I was there when he drew a circle on the face of the deep. 00:18:38.958 --> 00:18:57.767 I was there when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned the sea its limit so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the earth foundations of the earth, then I was beside him like a master workman and I was beside Wow. 00:19:10.401 --> 00:19:13.720 That's the son and his relationship to his father. 00:19:13.720 --> 00:19:15.925 That is what is meant by the statement. 00:19:15.925 --> 00:19:18.794 The Word was with God. 00:19:18.794 --> 00:19:26.088 That means before there was a beginning, the Word had been co -equal with God throughout all eternity. 00:19:26.088 --> 00:19:32.263 But what did John mean exactly when he says he was with God. 00:19:32.263 --> 00:19:35.469 The word with in Greek is pros P-R-O-S. 00:19:35.469 --> 00:19:39.996 It literally means toward, implying a face-to-face relationship. 00:19:39.996 --> 00:19:42.625 One translates it, states it best. 00:19:42.625 --> 00:19:47.368 It says, quote the word was face-to-face with God. 00:19:47.368 --> 00:19:49.212 Face-to-face with God. 00:19:51.299 --> 00:20:00.792 Commentator William Hendrickson, commenting on this verse, says the meaning is that the word existed in the closest possible fellowship with the Father. 00:20:00.792 --> 00:20:03.839 And then he took supreme delight in his communion. 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:12.806 So deeply had the former joy impressed itself upon the Logos that it was never erased from his consciousness, as is evident from his high priestly prayer. 00:20:12.806 --> 00:20:30.290 And he quotes from John 17, five, where in prayer Jesus says now, father, glorify me in your presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed Wow, notice that phrase before the world existed. 00:20:30.290 --> 00:20:48.034 This is where the Son, the second person of the Godhead who was face to face with God, in cooperation with the Father, launched this divine plan that the Son would come to earth to die and redeem fallen human beings. 00:20:50.221 --> 00:20:57.720 The third area we learned from is the fact that he's eternally present with the Godhead. 00:20:57.720 --> 00:21:01.951 He was totally equal with the Father and the Spirit. 00:21:01.951 --> 00:21:06.151 The Word was with God and the Word was God. 00:21:06.151 --> 00:21:11.191 To all my Jehovah Witnesses, I'm sorry to tell you. 00:21:11.191 --> 00:21:13.769 He is very God of gods. 00:21:13.769 --> 00:21:23.391 You know, orthodox Christianity has this in common that it holds to the truth that Jesus of Nazareth is fully God. 00:21:23.391 --> 00:21:27.420 The Word was not only with God, he was fully divine. 00:21:27.420 --> 00:21:34.034 The one verse establishes the Word as being both divine and eternal in nature. 00:21:34.034 --> 00:21:47.412 Everything you read about Him after that initial statement in John 1 is to be filtered through this reality that the Word was God. 00:21:47.412 --> 00:21:51.005 And in this statement, john reveals three things about the Word. 00:21:51.005 --> 00:22:01.682 Number one that in the beginning, when the Word was created, he existed, that he existed with God and that he was in fact God and therefore made all things. 00:22:01.682 --> 00:22:08.342 In other words, the Logos extended eternally, distinct from the Father, yet equal to the Father. 00:22:09.203 --> 00:22:13.614 Now, jesus' divinity has been fiercely debated through the centuries. 00:22:13.614 --> 00:22:30.212 In fact, in the fourth century there was a church leader named Arius who denied the Trinity and the deity of Christ and in fact this led to a church council which was called the Council of Nicaea. 00:22:30.212 --> 00:22:35.252 The council was actually called by the Roman Emperor, constantine. 00:22:35.252 --> 00:22:59.425 He called it and Constantine became a Christian, or claimed to be a Christian, because he went out to battle against his enemies and had a vision of a cross, and the word came to him in this sign conquer, and so he put emblems of the cross on all of the emblems and ensigns of the Roman army, and they indeed won. 00:22:59.425 --> 00:23:02.650 And he said I embrace Christianity. 00:23:02.650 --> 00:23:10.550 And so many debate whether he truly became a Christian, but in some ways he promoted the Christian church. 00:23:12.142 --> 00:23:26.814 He presided over a council, the Council of Nicaea, that produced one of the most famous statements the early church ever wrote, called the Nicene Creed, and it was in response to Arius, who denied the deity of Christ. 00:23:26.814 --> 00:23:30.069 It defined the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. 00:23:30.069 --> 00:23:34.943 It beautifully defined the relationship between the Father and the Son. 00:23:34.943 --> 00:23:43.700 Here it is we believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty maker of heaven and earth and of all that is seen and unseen. 00:23:43.700 --> 00:23:55.426 We believe in one Lord, jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, god from God, light from light, true God from true God. 00:23:55.426 --> 00:24:00.031 Begotten, not made of one being with the Father. 00:24:00.031 --> 00:24:10.519 Notice the beautiful phrase setting forth Messiah's deity begotten, not made of one being with the Father. 00:24:13.464 --> 00:24:17.212 Many wrongly believe that Nicene created the doctrine of the Trinity. 00:24:17.212 --> 00:24:19.507 But it didn't create the doctrine of the Trinity. 00:24:19.507 --> 00:24:20.509 It's not true. 00:24:20.509 --> 00:24:38.400 Nicene simply formulated what the apostles had already taught in their letters because all through the letters of Paul and even Peter, they described God as triune Father, son and Spirit, as triune Father, son and Spirit. 00:24:39.079 --> 00:24:44.306 You know, the people who have the most difficulty believing in the deity of Messiah are the Jewish people, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 00:24:44.306 --> 00:24:48.089 And that's because of the holiest verse in Judaism. 00:24:48.089 --> 00:24:50.648 Anybody know what the holiest verse in Judaism is? 00:24:50.648 --> 00:24:56.547 Shema Yisrael, adonai Eloheinu, adonai Echad, hear O Israel, the Lord, our God. 00:24:56.547 --> 00:25:01.549 The Lord is one, and that's the holiest verse in Judaism. 00:25:01.549 --> 00:25:05.630 But that verse actually affirms the Trinity, doesn't deny it. 00:25:05.670 --> 00:25:10.851 Did you know that the word one in Hebrew is not the word for a single word? 00:25:10.851 --> 00:25:12.948 That is the Hebrew word yachid. 00:25:12.948 --> 00:25:16.029 But that's not the word that Moses uses for one here. 00:25:16.029 --> 00:25:31.819 Rather he uses echad, which is a word for a composite group, one group, one flock, one theologian online says first, it is crucial to understand what Deuteronomy 6.4 means when it says the Lord is one. 00:25:32.201 --> 00:25:35.028 The Hebrew word, translated one, is echad. 00:25:35.028 --> 00:25:39.221 As I said before, it means unity, not singularity. 00:25:39.221 --> 00:25:46.193 It is used in Genesis 2.24 in referring to a husband and wife being one flesh. 00:25:46.193 --> 00:25:52.593 A husband and wife are not one as in singular being, they are in unity with each other. 00:25:52.593 --> 00:26:00.028 There is a Hebrew word that means absolute singularity, yachid, but it's never used in the scriptures in reference to God. 00:26:00.028 --> 00:26:04.782 With that said, it's impossible to affirm the biblical teaching of one God. 00:26:04.782 --> 00:26:11.002 From the very first words of scripture we are told there's only one God who created the heavens and the earth. 00:26:11.002 --> 00:26:15.294 The controversy is not whether there is only one God verse 2. 00:26:15.294 --> 00:26:19.281 The controversy is not whether there is only one God verse 2,. 00:26:19.281 --> 00:26:22.375 The discussion is how Christians understand Jesus as this true God. 00:26:22.375 --> 00:26:30.299 Christians believe that the Bible presents one God who exists in three persons Father, son and Holy Spirit. 00:26:30.299 --> 00:26:35.291 The doctrine of the Trinity does not contradict Deuteronomy 6, 4. 00:26:35.291 --> 00:26:40.304 As was said above, the Hebrew word echad means unity, not singularity. 00:26:40.304 --> 00:26:45.534 Christians believe the persons of the Trinity are united in the Godhead. 00:26:45.534 --> 00:26:47.020 Wow. 00:26:49.484 --> 00:26:55.836 But many Jews still reject Jesus' deity, asserting that he never claimed to be God. 00:26:55.836 --> 00:27:05.057 It's a big belief in Judaism that he never proclaimed to be God, but in John, chapter 10, jesus does claim it. 00:27:05.057 --> 00:27:07.403 He was speaking with Jews in the temple. 00:27:07.403 --> 00:27:11.011 As a result of his teaching, they picked up stones to stone him. 00:27:11.011 --> 00:27:15.267 And he said in John 10, the Jews picked up stones to stone him. 00:27:15.267 --> 00:27:18.953 Jesus answered I have shown you many good works from the father. 00:27:18.953 --> 00:27:21.167 For which of them are you going to stone me? 00:27:21.167 --> 00:27:32.173 The Jews answered him it is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself to be God. 00:27:32.173 --> 00:27:35.487 So Jesus, clearly here, was accused by the Jewish people of claiming to be God. 00:27:35.487 --> 00:27:39.460 So Jesus, clearly here, was accused by the Jewish people of claiming to be God. 00:27:39.460 --> 00:27:44.528 You know, there's a running debate in Judaism as to who a Jew really is. 00:27:44.528 --> 00:27:52.913 Some say it's ethnic, some say it's religious, and this debate's been going on and no one in Judaism agrees on it. 00:27:52.913 --> 00:27:59.554 But there's one thing that all Jews in this symposium that were trying to answer the question what is a Jew? 00:27:59.554 --> 00:28:01.547 One thing they all believed. 00:28:01.547 --> 00:28:05.810 They all believed you cannot be a Jew and believe in Jesus. 00:28:05.810 --> 00:28:10.105 Well, here I am. 00:28:10.105 --> 00:28:15.102 Deal with it, get over it, get over it. 00:28:15.102 --> 00:28:32.029 And the fourth thing he was the agent through which all things exist, that came into being, all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. 00:28:32.029 --> 00:28:38.029 The son, who is in the bosom of the father, is the agent through which all things were created. 00:28:38.029 --> 00:28:51.189 John begins his gospel with familiar words In the beginning, the opening words of the Torah In the beginning, god created the heavens and the earth. 00:28:51.189 --> 00:28:57.731 Bereshit bara, elohim, elohim ha-shamayim v'chaaretz. 00:28:57.731 --> 00:29:01.240 In the beginning, god created the heavens and the earth. 00:29:01.240 --> 00:29:06.932 This teaches that the physical universe has an actual beginning and is not eternal. 00:29:06.932 --> 00:29:16.372 The universe was created, which does a frontal assault on the theory of evolution, that all things emerge out of some great cosmic accident. 00:29:16.372 --> 00:29:26.410 Ten times in the first chapter of Genesis it's stated that God said, God said and things occurred and came into being. 00:29:26.410 --> 00:29:38.935 But here in John's gospel it tells us that all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made, was not anything made that was made? 00:29:38.935 --> 00:29:52.118 This is meant by the repeated phrase in Genesis, god said, psalm 33, by the word of the Lord the heavens were made and by the breath of his mouth all their hosts. 00:29:52.118 --> 00:29:56.289 The word of God spoken created all things. 00:29:56.289 --> 00:30:03.089 But the word of God, the second person that God had, was the agent through which all things came into being. 00:30:03.089 --> 00:30:20.450 The same thing is stated in the opening words of my favorite epistle, the epistle to the Hebrews, where it says, quote Long ago, at many times and in many ways, god spoke of our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his son. 00:30:20.450 --> 00:30:21.050 What a verse. 00:30:21.050 --> 00:30:41.167 It's another statement from Paul when he wrote to the Colossian church, for by him all things were created In heaven and earth, visible, invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. 00:30:41.167 --> 00:30:51.539 That statement adds another layer of meaning to the fact that God created everything through the Son. 00:30:51.539 --> 00:30:55.652 He also created all the things he created for him as a gift. 00:30:55.652 --> 00:31:02.230 Did you know that we sell this in the passage of Hebrews, when it's stated that he was appointed heir of all things? 00:31:02.230 --> 00:31:08.388 Bible commentator William Hendrickson says God appointed his son heir of all things. 00:31:08.388 --> 00:31:13.508 An heir rightfully inherits whatever the father has stipulated in his will. 00:31:13.508 --> 00:31:23.127 As the one and only Son, jesus thus inherits everything the Father possesses incomprehensible, unfathomable. 00:31:23.127 --> 00:31:30.451 Everything was created for him and one day will be given to him as a gift. 00:31:30.451 --> 00:31:42.145 Now, going back to Colossians 1.15, paul states that he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 00:31:42.145 --> 00:31:48.632 That phrase, firstborn of all creation, has been misunderstood by Jehovah Witnesses and other cults. 00:31:48.632 --> 00:31:55.984 They understand it to mean that Jesus was the first created, being the firstborn of all creation. 00:31:55.984 --> 00:31:59.818 They concluded, therefore, that Jesus is not first created, being the firstborn of all creation. 00:31:59.818 --> 00:32:04.363 They concluded, therefore, that Jesus is not eternal, he is not God. 00:32:04.363 --> 00:32:08.050 When Paul states that Christ is the firstborn over all creation, he is not making the assertion that Christ is a created being. 00:32:08.050 --> 00:32:14.106 The word firstborn implies supremacy and priority in rank. 00:32:14.106 --> 00:32:19.115 The clear thrust of this argument is that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation. 00:32:19.115 --> 00:32:23.612 He should have the supremacy in all things as the firstborn. 00:32:23.612 --> 00:32:32.828 So these four arguments, when taken together in the opening verses of John the four being number one, that he is the word. 00:32:32.828 --> 00:32:35.265 Number two, that he was in fellowship with the members of the Godhead. 00:32:35.265 --> 00:32:36.700 Number three, that he is the word Number two, that he was in fellowship with the members of the Godhead. 00:32:36.700 --> 00:32:39.368 Number three, that he himself is God. 00:32:39.368 --> 00:32:49.634 And number four, he therefore is the agent through which all things came into being Leads us to the conclusion that Jesus is eternally worthy. 00:32:49.634 --> 00:32:55.884 In eternity past, this son was worshiped by all the angelic hosts. 00:32:55.884 --> 00:33:06.055 Now that he's been born in Bethlehem's manger, lived a life of obedience to the Father, died and rose again, and now sits on the right hand of the majesty of high. 00:33:06.055 --> 00:33:07.997 Let us worship him. 00:33:07.997 --> 00:33:12.425 Would you stand and worship him with me? 00:33:12.425 --> 00:33:14.130 If you're comfortable lifting your hands? 00:33:14.130 --> 00:33:16.684 Just begin to worship him. 00:33:16.684 --> 00:33:19.378 Let's take a minute and sing. 00:33:19.378 --> 00:33:21.184 You can sing, you can worship. 00:33:21.184 --> 00:33:21.445 You can. 00:33:21.445 --> 00:33:24.165 Father, we worship you. 00:33:24.165 --> 00:33:26.026 We worship you. 00:33:26.026 --> 00:33:29.920 We worship you, father, for bringing your Son into this world. 00:33:29.920 --> 00:33:36.588 We worship you for the Son, who had no beginning, was in the beginning, with the Father and Spirit. 00:33:36.588 --> 00:33:42.490 Thank you, father, and thank you that the Word was with God and that the Word is God. 00:33:42.490 --> 00:33:48.426 We glorify you and we thank you in Jesus' name, amen. 00:33:48.426 --> 00:33:54.044 I feel an urgency to press what Tyler had pressed. 00:33:54.044 --> 00:33:58.241 I feel there's some here this morning that don't yet know Jesus. 00:33:58.241 --> 00:34:01.528 You've never really committed your life to him. 00:34:01.528 --> 00:34:03.840 I'll be up here at the end of the service. 00:34:03.840 --> 00:34:05.347 There'll be others up here praying. 00:34:05.347 --> 00:34:09.822 We have a prayer team that's going to come in a moment to pray for any needs you might have. 00:34:09.822 --> 00:34:16.655 And if you're here and you don't know Jesus, please respond this morning. 00:34:16.655 --> 00:34:18.800 Open your heart to the gospel. 00:34:18.800 --> 00:34:19.460 Father. 00:34:19.460 --> 00:34:23.889 We close by asking you to save those who don't believe. 00:34:23.889 --> 00:34:26.014 Save them through faith in Jesus. 00:34:26.014 --> 00:34:29.041 Open their eyes to see the Son of God. 00:34:29.041 --> 00:34:31.664 In Jesus' name, amen.