We were talking, my wife and I, the other day about the true humanity of Jesus, fully God, certainly. He's Emmanuel, but fully man. And I mentioned that I knew somewhere in the secondary standards that mentioned Jesus has a real body, and the language is a reasonable soul. He has a real soul, like we do, a human soul, and not a divine soul. but he is a fully God, fully man. It's mysterious, but true. We're looking at Ezekiel 34. I'm gonna shorten the reading. I'm gonna read Ezekiel 34. Ezekiel 34 would be the counterpart to John chapter 10. John chapter 10 is my favorite chapter in my favorite book of the Bible, as I'm gonna mention in just a bit. But John chapter 10 is where Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. And Ezekiel 34 is the Old Testament counterpart of that, where Jehovah says, since the earthly shepherds, the prophets and the priests, they were pitiful, God says, I'm gonna have to come and seek and to save my own people myself. And we know that Jehovah comes in the flesh in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna read from verses 11, and I just wanna get that one point through verse 25, 26. just to see that God says, I'll have to come and to save my people. Verse 11 in chapter 34, Ezekiel, hear God's perfect word. Thus says the Lord God, behold, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out as a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep. So I will care for my sheep and I will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and a gloomy day. I will bring them out from the people and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel by the streams and all the inhabited places of the land. I will feed them in good pasture and their grazing ground will be on mountain heights. There they will lie down on good grazing ground and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock. I will lead them to rest, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost. I'll bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick. But the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with judgment. I think I'm gonna end right there. It gets what I want us to see. I want us to see that God essentially says to all men that they are not saviors, they're not seeking his people. God alone must come, and God alone must seek and save, and so he does in Christ. So we're gonna look at John chapter one. This is a topical message. My intention was to do a few topicals after we finished 1 Thessalonians. So my method will be a little bit different than what I ordinarily do, which is verse upon verse. This is gonna be a big picture sermon. John chapter one, and I'm gonna read verses one through 18. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, the darkness did not comprehend it. There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. There was the true Light, which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own. Those who were his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. We saw his glory. Glory is the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about him and cried out, saying, this was he of whom I said, he who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for he existed before me. For of his fullness we've all received, and grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has explained him. May God bless the reading of his word, the glory of his name, and the extension of his church. Let's pray. Our fearless Lord Jesus Christ, we pray, Holy Spirit, I pray that I, would decrease, decrease in my own estimation, decrease in my own eyes, and that you, Lord Jesus Christ, would increase in my mind, in my heart, on my lips, in my eyes, in my hands. And Lord, that that truth would also be given to all of us, that we would decrease our lust for self, our lust for sin, our lust for our own kingdom. Lord, we'd be mortified, be put to death moment by moment, day by day. In you, fairest Lord Jesus Christ, you would increase. We would love you more, we would serve you more, we would worship you more, and it would grow and grow and grow and grow. Feed us, Holy Spirit, feed us bread of heaven till we want no more. We pray these things in the Redeemer's name, amen. My purpose for this particular topical lesson, I'm going to tell you this right from the very beginning. I want us to grasp the main truths, as I mentioned, the big picture, kind of a macro view, not a micro view. My ordinary course is to go verse upon verse. Usually I will state the big picture of the forest and then descend down and look at the trees. All we're going to do this morning is I want everyone to fly over the forest of this passage. Now I'm going to commit to you this week, maybe even this afternoon, to look at every word in verses 1 through 18. Every single word here, I think, is overflowing with gospel goodness. But I want us to get the big picture, because I think it teaches what I consider to be the main truth of Christianity. Now, I also want to share with you why I chose this particular topical. As I mentioned, I'm an expository series preacher. I pick a book, Start at chapter one of the book, verse one of the book, and plow through the book. That's my method. I've done it for 16 years. 16 years come next week. I think January 4th will be 16 years full time. But that's been my method. And when we finish books, I take a break and we do topicals. And I picked this one, unlike just going to verse three next week from verse one of last week. I chose this for this reason. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ According to the Apostle John, as I said, is my favorite book in the entire Bible. Of course, the longer you're a believer, the more you say that about, oh, I love the Psalms, I love this, and I love Exodus, and I love the book of Revelation, believe it or not. But John, for me, This is the pinnacle. I love it. When I was converted, I'm 53, I was converted at 26 years old. I spoke with young men at theology class. I was converted in a truck in Massachusetts late at night, 2 o'clock in the morning, 2.30, something like that. And after I was converted, I met a number of men, Christian ministers, and one of them, both of them, mentored me in the faith. But one of the fellows said to me, as a brand new believer, And back home, I'm called Jack, and he said, Jack, this is what I want you to do. As a brand new believer, I want you to read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And I said, should I go on after that? No. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, over and over and over again. And I did that. And I can't tell you how many times I read the Gospels right away. My Bible, my first Bible, was Good News for Modern Man, which is a paraphrase. And you could read the entire New Testament while you're having a ham sandwich, because it's a paraphrase. But nevertheless, then I got my hands on a regular Bible. I think it was called the Berkeley edition. It was a Gideon Bible. I didn't steal it. At one time I used to sell used hotel furniture, so my first real Bible was a hotel Bible. And Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And when I got to John, something about the book of John I cannot tell you how many times I poured over the Gospel of John as a brand new believer. John, for me, it was like light and life to my soul, which is exactly what the text says here. And the reason the Gospel of John is like light and life to our souls is because we find Christ so clearly here. I am convinced one of the reasons that the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are so attractive, and I'm going to emphasize this, to new believers, new believers, the Gospel record, they're so attractive to new believers, my view, because they so clearly talk about the Lord Jesus. Jesus is the main character. Jesus is the main person. And you might say, well, Pastor, I thought the whole Bible was about Jesus. That's exactly right. But as a new believer, I said new believers. New believers we can generally see like this much. It's like when you read to a kiddo, they need to have giant pictures and color and those kind of things. And then we get older, we can read the fine print. We don't need the big color picture. But when you're a babe in Christ, you need Jesus writ large. And the Gospels do that. Of course, I've been a believer now, what, 27 years? And I know now what I didn't know then, that the whole Bible, Jesus walking on the road to Emmaus, Luke chapter 24, he says everything from Moses to Malachi is about me, which is true. But as a baby Christian, to come to the gospels and see this, in the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the word was God. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. We saw his glory. The Gospel records hold that unique place in the Bible. They record the actual incarnation, the coming of God come in the flesh. They do. Only they do. The actual event. They record the holy life of Jesus. They record the holy death of Jesus. His Holy Resurrection, His Holy Ascension, His Holy Session of Jesus, all of those. And what word do I keep repeating? They talk a lot about Jesus. If you were converted later in life, as I was converted later in life, I know some of y'all were raised in the Christian home and you don't know when you were converted. Newly converted people love to talk about Jesus. The gospel of John talks a lot about Jesus. And I'm stressing the new believers love to read the gospel so much because in it, in them, they find Jesus so glorious, so heart-stirring, so soul-satisfying. And now I'm going to say, this is not to say that old believers, and I don't mean chronologically old believers. If you think I'm picking on you, if you're 190, I'm not. When I say old believer, I mean you have been a Christian, a born again, I know Jesus, I love Jesus Christian, five years, six years, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years. There's something that a new believer has over us. Something can happen to us as old believers that takes the luster off of the gospels for us. And I would say generally two things can happen to us older, believers. And the two that take the shine off of Jesus, as it were, which is why I want to talk about Jesus from John chapter one. The two things that can happen in general are life. Life happens. There's a bumper sticker. It's probably a stupid bumper sticker, but life happens. Easy things, pleasant things, and painful things happen. And I would argue that the easy days, the prosperous days, and the plentiful days, are actually worse for our love of Jesus. They actually make us lose our first love of Jesus. Our love grows, it's easier for our love to grow lukewarm in Jesus when we are, hey, I'm gonna get married. and I'm gonna plant a field, I bought a yoke of oxen, I've gotta test them out, and I'm gonna buy and I'm gonna sell. Of course, I'm quoting Luke 17, Luke 18. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be when Jesus Christ returns. So we can get busy with life, even the pleasant things of life, and then our love for Jesus Christ can grow cold. Am I not right with that? I think it's the church of Laodicea, Revelation chapter 3. They are the lukewarm ones that Jesus is going to spit out of his mouth. Why did their love for Jesus grow cold in Laodicea? They were the rich ones. Everything was great. Man, they were healthy. They had a pocket full of cash. And when they were healthy and had a pocket full of cash, what didn't they have? burning love for Jesus. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Well, that's nice. I just bought a new truck. That's nice. I'm going to plan a big wedding. And the Word became flesh. That's the danger. Remember Israel? Israel walked hand in hand with the Lord when they walked through the howling wasteland. And when they entered into the promised land, what did God say to them? you're going to be dressed in Jeshurun. You're going to have houses and cisterns and vineyards that you didn't build. And you're going to go fat and sleek. And you're going to forget me. You're going to forget your love. And that's a danger that us older believers have that the younger person doesn't have. The younger believer meets Jesus, loves Jesus, reads the Bible. Yes. But then life happens for us. And then the painful things. Now the painful things very often in God's providence can drive us to the Lord Jesus Christ and make us love him even more. Is that not right? So when life is bitter to us physically, the creature is bitter. Our bodies are not working, our eyes don't work, our relationships don't work, those kind of things. We're finding no sweetness in the creature. Then God the Holy Spirit can do for you and me this. We find our sweetness here. I can't see. I have no money. All is dark. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. I know that. I know that. Beloved, I'm not going to ask you to stick up your hands because they'd take away my Presbyterian stripes. Presbyterians are not allowed to do that. But I want to. I want to ask you. How many people, percentage-wise, do you think believe that? Really believe this? Jesus is God, come in the flesh, and the Word was made flesh, and live for Him, and love Him. How many people in the world do you think? Most people? Broad. Broad is the road to hell. Many people are on it. They don't believe this. What I believe is I have a great job. I'm sharp as a tack. Man, life is good. That's what they believe. They walk by sight, not by faith. Most of the world does not see Jesus is God come in the flesh. But you do. Narrow is the way. Few find it. Your eyes, blessed are your eyes. Blessed are your eyes that see that Jesus has come in the flesh. Blessed are your eyes that see. And the word was God. So even in the painful times, but there is a danger in the painful times. If God the Holy Spirit does not drive us to the Lord Jesus Christ in the times of affliction, there's something else that could happen. One of the dear sisters here prayed it for someone I love very much going through a hard time. Oh God, please make that person not grow embittered against you in the bitter time. Sometimes hard times come and we grow angry with Jesus. We go away from Jesus. but the gospel of John unfolding the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ brings us back, brings us back, and brings us back. And there's something else that for the older believer, the younger believer doesn't have this danger as they love Jesus and find him in the book of the gospels. They don't have this. And the reason they don't have it is because they're young believers. And here's the danger. The longer that we are Christians, we read the Bible more, isn't that right? And we should. And then we know more. We start to discover other doctrines, other truths. And I'm not saying that the truths are wrong. I'm not talking about wrong truths, heresy. I'm talking about right truths. We start to say, well, God has an opinion on the church, church polity. ministers and deacons and elders and how it should be constructed. Wow, that's interesting. And then we come, well, God has an opinion on marriages and all these things and moms and dads and kiddos. Isn't that interesting? I'm going to read that. God has a view on church-state relationships. The state wields a sword to put down the evildoer and to protect those who do good, Romans chapter 13. That's exciting. God's Word has a view on the sacraments, baptism in the Lord's Supper, and that's exciting. Or end times, when I was a baby Christian of another kind of stripe, I was a different kind of a Christian, and back in that kind of church, man, all we talked about was he's getting ready to come, they've got the red heifer, they're gonna build a new temple. Now I don't, I'm not there now, I'm a different kind of a Christian, but man, that's all we talked about. Are those things right to learn and to study from God's Word? Of course. Of course. But here's something that can happen. Those other things can take the place of Jesus. I don't ever want anyone to come to Covenant OPC and say, wow, that's the election church. Y'all talk about predestination like 24-7. You know what I want them to walk away from Covenant OP? Well, you know, they're out of their minds. They believe the Bible, and they talk a way lot about Jesus. Just way too much about Jesus. I believe election because the Bible teaches it. I believe that the church has elders and deacons. I think the Bible teaches it. I believe we're in the last days. I believe the Bible teaches it. But those things serve Christ. They don't take the place of Jesus Christ. Beloved, what happens when a person goes from holding one view of free will to becoming what we call a Calvinist? What happens? Their Christianity is all Calvinism. Let me tell you about XYZ. Let me tell you about the eternal decree. And we start to lose our first love of Jesus. We don't talk about him. We don't look at this and the word became flesh and he's light. He's the light of my life. He is my life. And that's a disadvantage. That's a danger that us older Christians have. And the gospel of John, which is why I wanted to preach this, calls to you and me. Yes, we hold these other things, but they are secondary and subservient to this one. Am I right with that? that Christ, Christ is the pinnacle. Christ is the climax. And we are to look to him and that we would have our light and life in him. So if I could put it just a kind of a general way, if you just live your life as a Christian, you just wake up and live your daily life without any concerted effort towards Jesus, You don't make an effort to think on Christ, to pray to Him, to praise Him, to thank Him, and to read about Him in the Word. If you and me do not wake up every day and say, you know what, I have to talk to Jesus before I get to the plant, before I make my ham sandwich and get my work boots on, I need to feed my soul on Christ. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us as we saw his glory. Glory is the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. If we don't live purposeful lives in that, I'm going to tell you what's going to happen. I know this because it's happened to me. You will lose your first love for Jesus. Your love for Jesus will grow cold. How many people in this church are married? A few. How many have been married more than a half an hour? A few. How many men have married their wives and swore they were madly in love, and they swore undying fealty, love, fidelity, oh, I love you, with an undying love. And because they didn't guard their hearts, because they didn't live purposeful lives towards their wives, other things happen. I gotta go to work. I mean, rent doesn't grow on trees. I gotta get a degree because guys who drive trucks don't make any kind of money. So I gotta drive a truck and get a degree at the same time. Love you. And we don't say it anymore. Now we say, well, you know, you just have a different kind of a love. You have a mature kind of, a sober, mature kind of a love. No. No. We have a cold kind of a love. a lukewarm kind of a love. The gospel of John is redirecting your mind, my mind, and our hearts. Now the other things, I get it, you gotta drive a truck, you gotta drive a truck. But turn your eyes upon Jesus when you wake up. Turn your face upon Christ in the word that you would feed your soul. Why live like a pagan? Why live like an animal that just feeds and serves our body as if we have no eternal soul? And Christ, we feed upon him here. God gives us this passage. The reason I chose it, 1 through 18, is just one long extended adoration of the person of Jesus Christ. Now, when I mention those other things, church-state relations, all that, you may say, well, are you preaching against those? No, I'm not. I'm not. But I want to show you something. I want to show you this. I want you to think, as a believer, what are the things that you talk most about as a believer to other believers and to non-Christians? What are the subjects that you talk about? You know, we're gonna make America great again, or I don't know, whatever it may be. We're gonna renovate the church, we're gonna, what's another one? We're gonna Christianize culture, redeem families for Jesus, or something like that. What is the major subject that we talk about? Now, I want you to look at something. Those things may be true. Look at your Bibles. Are they more thrilling than these verses? In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Let's say you Christianize culture. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things, all things came into being through Him. Apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life. And the life was the light of men, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. We saw his glory. Glory is the only begotten of the Father. I want to say this. I want to say this. Christianity, true biblical Christianity, and this is going to sound so simple, you'll probably fire me as your pastor. It's about Christ. It is about Jesus. It is about Jesus saving sinners from their sins and taking them to heaven. First and foremost, I'm teaching the Young Men's Theology class. We're talking about the application of redemption to us. Redemption planned from eternity. Salvation planned from eternity. Jesus Christ accomplishes salvation 2,000 years ago on the cross, and then redemption or salvation applied. in our lives when the Holy Spirit gives me or you faith in Jesus. Other churches call that being saved. Amen, says the Presbyterian minister. Amen. Being saved by Jesus. That's this. Christianity fundamentally is about that. It's about Christ coming. Now, if you're a visitor, and you're looking around or you go to other churches, if you go to another church and the main subject of that church is not Christ, the adoration of Christ, the deity of Christ, the humanity of Christ, the salvation in Christ, the joy in Christ, then can I say something to you from this little tiny church? You need to run to the front door. I don't care what else they're doing. Man, we got the huts and fruts, we got this program, we got that going. I don't care what else they do. If it is not the love of Jesus, that's like the Lions Club. I'd rather join the Y than that. The gospel points us to Christ. The Bible points us to Christ. Martin Luther said this, that the Bible, the Holy Scripture is the manger in which Christ is laid. So we see later he talks about John being a witness. John's not the light. This apostle, John the Baptist, was not a priest. He didn't sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ. Ministers are not priests. They don't sacrifice Christ. What are they? What was John? What am I? What is every minister? They're preachers. They're heralds of the one who has come and who has been sacrificed. They are martyrs. The word witness is a martyr. They give themselves a body and soul that they would proclaim this one. Now, I want to prove something to you from the Bible, something about you all, I hope. I want you to look at the text that we've been talking about. Especially the verses that we've been highlighting. Verses 1, 3, and 4. I want you also to look at verse 12, and 13, and 14. Those 3, 4, 5 verses. I want to prove something to you. Now with the exception of maybe one or two people, I don't use the term laity, clergy, I just don't use it, but I'm gonna use it. Most everybody in the room is not what I would consider to be a professional Christian. I hate that phrase, by the way. But we're just regular Christians, right? Just regular old Christians. Most everybody has not been to seminary where you really learn, I mean, you learn the stuff, right? I want you to look at those, what does this mean? In the beginning was the word, The word obviously refers to Jesus. And the word was with God. And the word was God. What does that mean? Does that mean Jesus is God? In him was life. And the life was the light of men. What does that mean? It means Jesus is light. Jesus is life. One more. And this was completely contrary to the church in my youth. So we're sinners. dead in our sins and trespasses. How do you and me, sinners, how can we go to heaven? How can we be considered children of God? Go ahead, I want you to read that for yourself. Verse 12, what does this mean? As many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name. Our young brother asked me this morning at Sunday school, pastor, how do you know you're saved? I said, do you believe that Jesus is the Christ? God come in the flesh who died for your sins. Yes. You're saved. You are saved. Those who believe have eternal life. Those who believe have eternal life. What about all the 50 million good stuff that I have to do? Those who believe have eternal life. You just read it. You say, well, isn't there some real big nuance here? Beloved, as you say to me, this book says that Jesus is God come in the flesh. If I believe in him, I'm a child of God. I believe in him. Therefore, my child of God. You know what you are if you believe that that's true? You are a sound, reformed Protestant. Not all churches teach that. The church in my youth said, you better not pick up the Bible. I didn't have a Bible until I was 26 years old. We read something altogether different. There was only one guy who had the Bible. It wasn't me. And they in fact said to you, you better not read the Bible. It's way too confusing. Regular Christians can't understand it. You just can't do it. You need the prose. The prose will tell you what it means. Put your soul, your eternal life into the hands of the prose, the clergy, the Pope. And the word was with God and the word was God. Jesus is God. And if I believe in Jesus, if you believe in Jesus, we are children of God. Now, beloved, that's a Protestant principle. They use a fancy word, the perspicuity of scripture. It means the clarity of scripture. Everything that we need to know about Jesus to be saved by Jesus is clear in the Bible. I'm not saying that there are not some hard things in the Bible. You want to dunk with water, I want to sprinkle or pour some water, and we could have a debate over that? And you think there will be a thousand years of peace before Jesus or after Jesus comes back? We could have a debate about that? But this is not debatable. If the Dalai Lama were honest and you gave him that, So this book says that Jesus is God, come in the flesh, but he's not honest because he doesn't have the Holy Spirit to make him honest. But beloved, it is clear, is it not? Jesus is fully God, fully God, co-existent, pre-existent with God, obviously God the Father. That's what this is telling us about. Remember, we're talking about increasing or stoking the fire of our love of Jesus Christ. Now, many of us have family and friends, or maybe we used to be this way. Oh, Jesus is a swell guy, don't get me wrong. I mean, he's the swellest of guys. He's a fabulous teacher, the best of teachers, don't get me wrong. But he's not God. He's not God, I don't worship him. He's just a fabulous teacher, like a prophet. And the word was with God, and the word was God. Blessed are your eyes that see that Christ is God. Before the Lord Jesus Christ was incarnated in the womb of the Virgin Mary, he was forever, forever, forever, forever, forever, uncreated, underived God. Jesus, seven times in John's gospel says, I am, ego, a me, I am that I am. Ego Ami, I am the resurrection and the life. Ego Ami, I am the bread of life. Ego Ami, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And every Jew heard him say, I am that I am. And they said, what is this guy saying for himself? He says he's Jehovah come in the flesh. I don't want to ruin anybody's Christmas spirit or holiday spirit. How much of our Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, jingle bells, how much of that gets us here? Bowing down at the feet of Jesus. Oh, Jesus, you are my God. Oh, Jesus, you've created me. Oh, Jesus, you sustain me. Oh, Jesus, you've saved me. How much Merry Christmas gets us here? Not a lot. Am I right? Not a lot. This is why the Bible is so necessary. I'm not picking on the creche. I'm not picking on all that other stuff. But if that is the extent of our adoration of Jesus, we're missing the real, the real Jesus. When we say we love Jesus, we want to live for him, we want to serve him. It has to be the real Jesus. Jesus is in the Olivet Discourse, Matthew chapter 24. These are the last times, the last days. Many false Christs have gone out. You know this is true. Well, I think Jesus is this and I think Jesus is that. The real Jesus. We love the real Christ as we find him in the Bible. the one who is God, who that we worship, the one who has made us, come through the womb of the Virgin Mary, that one, made flesh for us, who saves us from our sins. He is the one. My fear is, my fear is, as a believer, I'm afraid, not just for the card carrying unbeliever, I'm afraid a great many people that would call themselves Christians, don't really believe that Jesus is fully God, their God. I mean, such that they, it would change the way they think, it would change the way that they feel, or change the way they speak, or change their actions. I have people in my family say, well, I'm a Unitarian. And the word was God. Distinct from the Father, The Son is distinct from the Father, distinct from the Holy Spirit. But what about me? You don't adore the real Jesus. I'm afraid there are a lot of folks in the Christian Church who go great stretches of their Christian life. I'm busy with work, busy with this, busy with that, but no love of Jesus, no worship of Him, no service of Him. When Christ's opinion on a matter differs than your opinion in the Bible, who wins? Well, me, of course. Because he just, he ratifies everything I want. Is he your God? Is he your God? And he's God. And we're told that he is our light and he is our life. I asked a question last week. I was converted at 26, as I mentioned. Prior, to God the Holy Spirit giving me and you faith in this one. The Bible tells us we were all spiritual darkness. We're all dark. Our thoughts about God are wrong. Thoughts about the Bible are wrong. Heaven, hell, wrong. Holiness, wrong. Walk out into society. Killing a baby in the womb by the unbeliever, that is like a divine right. You strike at that, that's heresy in today's religion. That's natural man. Girl can change herself into a boy, a boy can change himself into a girl. That's a divine right, so says natural man. That's darkness. And for us who say there's only one way, Christ is the only way to go to heaven, what do they say about that? That is heresy in the modern way of thinking. That's darkness. And the Bible says that before the Holy Spirit gave us faith, we were dead in our sins and our trespasses. But now that Christ has come, Christ is your light. He illuminates your mind. He shows you what sin is. He illuminates your soul. He regenerates you by the power of the Holy Spirit. And he brings you to himself. And you and me, leave darkness and death, and in Christ, because of Christ, we enter into light and life. That's a Christmas present. That is a Christmas present. And all those who believe, the world was made through him and the world did not know him. He came to his own and those who were his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, To them, he gave the right to be children of God, even to those who believe in his name. And here's why we can do that. Who are born, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. We call this by one little word, grace, pure grace. Beloved, the reason you can see Jesus, spiritually, and love him, even a little bit, and follow him, even a little bit, God gave you a gift. You're born again, not by mother and father, by God the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit took out your dead heart and gave you a living heart. heart of flesh, gave you eyes to see Jesus, ears to hear him. Beloved, for those folks that have not been given that gift, they listen to me, what me and you are talking about, and they think, boy, I feel bad for these people, strange people, narrow-minded, puritanical people. Oh, beloved, you are the most blessed people in all the world. Jesus says, blessed are your eyes because you see the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. And one last thing. If you are a Christian and you say, well, pastor, I don't want to tell you this, but other things really have taken the place of Jesus. Life has taken the place of Jesus. Work has taken the place of Jesus. Other doctrines take the place of Jesus. Oh, beloved, nothing is as beautiful as Christ. Return to your Lord and your God, and he will refresh your soul with himself. And may God be pleased with the preaching of his word.