There's Stian who's recovering from some oral surgery, and there's other folks traveling, Miss Anita and others. Be mindful of them, if you would. John chapter number eight, John eight, and again, the purpose of this time, of this hour, in particular, is to learn more about the Bible. That's why it was called for years Sunday School. Some people may have changed the name. Whatever you want to call it, Sunday School, Sunday Morning Bible Study, I really don't care what you call it. I'm just glad that you're here, and hopefully we can study together and learn together the Word of God. So, John chapter 8, going verse by verse, and these are the words of Jesus. And I would say this, we live in a generation that has a lot of conceptions about Jesus and who He is. Every person would say, Jesus would never say dot, dot, dot. or Jesus would be all for this, or Jesus would never want that. Sometimes you're right, sometimes you're wrong. How are you going to know? The only way to know is to check the book where you learn about Jesus, guys. That's it. That's why we're doing what we're doing, so we can learn more about the main ... Guys, the main character of the book is not me. The main character of the story is not you. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And every story has a hero. What I'm learning the longer I live is that the hero of my story is not me. Any of you ever heard of Invictus? The person that wrote Invictus was someone that went through a pretty challenging health situation and went through some hard things. And he wrote the poem Invictus. And one of the most famous lines in there, and you may remember it, maybe you haven't read it. If you're into poetry, you may have read it. But it says this at the end of the thing. I am the captain of my soul. In other words, I will determine it. Let me say this. I'm not the guy that says you don't determine anything. I'm not a fatalist. At the same time, we're talking philosophy right now. At the same time to say you determine everything, you can't determine the weather. You don't determine when you die. There's a lot of things you don't determine. Listen, listen, listen. I'm all for eating healthy, going to the gym, all that kind of stuff. You could do that and sweat and be in great shape and then get a notification from your doctor about cancer and be dead in a week. You are not the captain of your own soul. The Bible talks about your breath and your life being in God's hands. And so when you get into John, what you remember is, maybe some of you remember it, some of you may not be familiar with it, but the gospel of John in particular, we had a few people on Wednesday night make the greatest decision of their life, and they trust in Christ as their Savior, that's the best thing you can do in life. And you say, why is that? Because Jesus said, what shall it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his own soul? Why does he say that? Because your soul is worth more than your job. If you don't believe that, if you don't believe that, retire and watch how you, you think the company's gonna fall apart, they're gonna keep on truckin' without you. And they're gonna be like, they'll be like Adrian Who, like you never even existed, all right? And you go, well, my family's the most important thing. I hate to say this, but even after you die, your family has to go on. So we, well, preacher, what's the most important thing? Your eternal soul is the most important thing you have. That is going to last forever. And for those unfamiliar with it, the Lord God created us and created us to have an eternal aspect of us so that we could be in fellowship with Him forever. Sin broke all that apart, but it doesn't change the fact that you were made in the image of God and there's a soul inside of you. There's an eternal being inside of you. It's the real you. And I know I said this Wednesday night, but you might look great on the outside right now. You won't forever. You won't. And you go, well, preacher, you're kind of bringing me down. Help me up. Help me up. We're going to get to the up part in a moment, all right? If you're saved, you're going to live forever in a sinless body. And it's going to be awesome. You'll have to watch what you say or think or do, because everything you say and think and do will be the right thing. And you'll live in a place with no hospitals, no job, no debt, no jails, no cancer, no sickness, no counseling and no therapy. Why? Everyone's perfect. That's not where you're at right now. But if you're without Christ, your eternal soul will be in a place where God never designed for you to be. Why am I saying all this? Because when you look at the Gospel of John, what John reminds us of and why John is written the way that it's written is so that we are confident, we become confident in who Jesus Christ is. You learn that later on toward the end of the book. John's funny like that. He doesn't tell you the purpose of John at the beginning. He tells you the purpose of John at the end. You're kind of like, why do you do that? So you'd read the whole book, I suppose. I don't know. But at the end of John chapter 20, he says, these things were written that you may believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And so we're looking at that in this very chapter. In John chapter 8, there's a debate that's going on. about who Jesus is. Is He in fact the Son of God or is He just a man? So look at John chapter 8 and again look at verse number 37. John 8 verse 37, The way that you can tell, what the Lord is indicating here is this. You can tell someone's spiritual condition by how they respond to the Word of God. There are certain environments, and if you drop me in right now, I'd be nervous in the service. I'd be awkward. I wouldn't fit. It just wouldn't work. And that's how maybe sometimes someone may come to church and go like, this is weird, like just quoting verses and looking at what are those Bible stuff and Jesus and then all this dogma. What is all that about? You say, what is that? Well, what it is is your response to what God is saying and what the Lord Jesus Christ is trying to show them is, look, even if you say you are Abraham seed now for those who weren't here last year, I'm going to retell the whole story. But these are Jewish people of the seed of Abraham. And so when Jesus is challenging their ideology and challenging their response to what He's saying about Himself, challenging their response to His words, what does Jesus do? He goes, look, if Abraham was actually your father, you'd respond differently. Listen, the reason you don't have any desire for my word is you're not one of my kids. That's a challenging thing to tell somebody, but it's the right thing. Look at verse number 38. I speak that which I have seen with my father, and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. And they go, yeah, well, Abraham's our dad. And he's like, well, yeah, but no. And you look at verse number 41. Ye do the deeds of your father. What's he talking about? Look at verse number 44. What are the next two words? Now, I didn't write the book, I didn't write the Bible, and I've never told someone, you are of your father the devil. I never have. I will tell you who did, the loving Jesus Christ. Now, when people say, well, Jesus would never say that, well, He did say that. And when you start deciding what Jesus would say, you ain't Him. Why do you feel entitled to tell Jesus what He should and shouldn't say? He's the one that made you. We're going to see that here in just a moment. But the reason He's saying this is because He's trying to draw a line of distinction between the physical and the spiritual. The physical will never yield spiritual fruit. Listen, if I plant, we've got a garden, and we've got tomato plants in there. If I plant a seed of a tomato plant, I'm not expecting banana peppers to grow. You understand like if I whatever I'm planting in the ground. Yeah, it's gonna look different and it's gonna come out big It's not gonna be a tiny seed anymore, but it's not I don't plant apples and orange trees girl. That's how that works And so they're looking at this going. Well, we're of Abraham. He goes. Yeah. Yeah, but God look at look at John chapter 4 Go back to John 4 guys where Jesus is talking to that woman at the well John chapter 4 John chapter 4 And Jesus is talking to this woman about the living water. And look at verse number 24. God is a what? Spirit. And they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. So it's not just about where you come from physically. God's not interested in whether you're Jew or Gentile as it relates to salvation, male or female as it relates to salvation. All those distinctions are immaterial as it relates to your eternal soul. And as it relates to bearing spiritual fruit, the physical... Let me give it to you this way, bro Joe, you're a preacher's kid. I'm not trying to pick on them. I know I normally do, but this is a serious thing. I know you know other preacher's kids who want nothing to do with God, nothing to do with the church, nothing to do with the Bible. You say, well, weren't they raised in a Christian home? Yeah, but just because you're born in a garage, it doesn't make you a truck. You understand? So the physical does not yield spiritual. It is a spirit that must yield spiritual things. And so they're going, we're of Abraham. He goes, great. It'd be like me saying, Joe, are you saved? And Joe goes, I'm not Puerto Rican. Okay, well that didn't answer my question at all. I'm asking him, are you saved? Well, he's answering with a physical thing. They're going, where of Abraham's seed? He goes, that does not matter. I'm talking about the spiritual right now. What it gets to is the ear of your father, the devil. Look at Galatians chapter 3. Let me say it like this. I've talked to people before and I say, are you saved? And they go, well, you know, I'm trying to live a good life. And I mean that. I think they're sincere when they say that. I ask them, okay, what does someone need to do to get to heaven? They'll say, live a good life, you know, keep the golden rule. Or they'll say, keep the Ten Commandments. And then you go in, okay, what are the Ten Commandments? You know, do for yourself what you can't, you know, what God won't do for you. You know, I don't know, be kind to people, include diversity in your life. No, those aren't the Ten Commandments. You ever had that conversation with someone, and they're just like, they're banking their soul on the Ten Commandments, and they don't know what they are. Let me say it like this, guys. Those things don't save you. I know most of you know this, but those things cannot save you. When you ask someone, are you saving? They go, yeah, I'm a Catholic. Yeah, I'm a Baptist. That is not answering the question. The question is, have you been born again? Have you experienced a spiritual birth that you did not experience at your physical birth? Because the physical cannot yield spiritual. Look at Galatians chapter 3, and here in Galatians 3, there's this comparison where Paul, the apostle, talks, and of course, Paul was a Jew as well, and Paul shows them, look, it's not about being of Abraham physically, but rather spiritually. Look if you would at Galatians 3, and look at verse number 5. Even as Abraham believed God, spiritual thing, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, spiritual thing. Look down, if you would, at verse 11, but that no man is justified by the law. For you to keep the law, there are physical ordinances you have to keep. And he's saying, look, you can't get saved that way. That's not how you yield spiritual fruit. And let me say this, even after you're saved, yes, there are things that you should avoid and there are things you should incorporate in your life, but you can't become spiritual by doing this and just a list of do's and don'ts. It does not make you spiritual. I can give a kid a list of you can't do this and you must do this and you can't do this. Let me say like this. You know, the most I say void place of sin in the world. You know where it is? Some of you are thinking church. There's plenty of sin here. Some of you are acting like, oh, no, not me. Well, then I'll throw myself down to the bus, all right? There's plenty of sin here. You know where you're not going to find sin? A graveyard. You know why? Because they're all dead. And that's about it on this earth. You know what they're not going to do? They're not going to snort something they shouldn't snort. They're not going to go somewhere they shouldn't go. They're not going to say something they shouldn't say. Why? They're dead. That doesn't mean they're spiritual. You understand? So spirituality is not just a list of do's and don'ts. I want to make this clear. Salvation is not a list of do's and don'ts. Salvation is not join the church, don't say this, don't use God's name in vain. get baptized, put money in the bank, that is not salvation. And again, I recognize that a lot of you understand this, but I want to make it very clear, salvation doesn't come that way, and because salvation doesn't come that way, your communication and fellowship with God will also. I'm well aware of the fact that there ought to be standards and things you don't incorporate in your life, and things that you do incorporate in your life, but if you mechanically check boxes and go, yep, yep, yep, nope, nope, that doesn't make you spiritual. And so what has to happen is a spiritual transaction has to take place between you and God, just like it did at salvation, in order for you to know who the Lord is in your life. Look at Galatians 3, one more place. Look at verse number 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. I'm thankful that Jesus Christ became a curse for me. The Bible says over in 2 Corinthians 5, "...he hath made Him," God, "...made Him," Jesus, "...to become sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." So let's go down this road just for a second. If salvation comes by goodness that you do, If someone does more good than you, are they more saved? Are they saved and you don't get in? How does that work? See, the problem with that is it's a moving target. I'm thankful God made the standard very clear. If you fly down this road, I think it's 35 miles per hour, I think, I'm pretty sure it's not 70, I'll say that. If you fly down here and go in 70 through a 35, and you get pulled over, and the policeman goes, what in the world are you thinking? And you say, what's the problem? I'm just driving. Well, you broke the law. How did I break the law? Well, the speed limit. I didn't see the sign. You know what the cop's going to say, but you could have. Maybe you didn't see because you're going so fast. But the bottom line is, if he gives you a ticket, it'll be according to the standard. He cannot arbitrarily say you're breaking the law just because he doesn't like you. Or because, like Brother Steon hates electric vehicles, you know. If he was a cop, he'd pull all of them over, you know. He's a mechanic. Just bear with me on the illustration, all right? But if he was a cop and pulled you over for electric, that's not a crime. Why is this a problem? I broke the standard. Listen guys, the standard has been broken by every single person in this room. You know why? Because none of us are Jesus. Can you honestly look in a mirror or look at someone with a straight face and not smile and go, I've never sinned? I've been tempted in all points, but man, I've never messed up. It's just naturally a smile. Why? It's hilarious. None of us can do that. You know who can? Jesus Christ. Why? He's the standard. And the standard became sin for us so that we could be brought to God. Look, if you would, at verse 14, that the blessing of Abraham, it's a spiritual blessing that he's talking about here in Galatians 3. And if you study your Bible in the Old Testament, Abraham blessings that are spiritual in nature, and he also gives Abraham blessings that are physical in nature. And so what Paul is talking about here in Galatians 3 is not so much the physical, because those things are given to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12, talking about a piece of land that God would bless Abraham with. And God did not promise me a piece of land. God did not promise you a piece of land. What he did promise you is eternal life. The Bible says, "...he came into his own, his own received him not, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become," what? The sons of God being adopted into his family through a spiritual, not physical, a spiritual transaction. Look, if you would, go back to John chapter 8, actually. Go to John chapter 8, And I want to show you, we're going to kind of get into it this morning on this subject, probably take most of the rest of the hour. John chapter 8, look at verse number 42. John 8, verse 42. Now, we're watching the wheels kind of come off in church today. What I mean by that is this. If you watch the stages of apostasy, who's familiar with the term or the word apostasy? Would you raise your hand? All right, all that means, it's like this. If you become a mechanic, You say the carburetor discombobulated from the shaft, and a normal person that's not a mechanic goes, I don't know what it means. Just tell me how much I owe you. That's where I'm at. When it comes to any field, that's generally what happens. You learn these big words. Preachers go to school and they learn these big words. Apostasy just means this. I'll say it like this. An apostle, a post, An apostle is one that was like a post, like a postage stamp, like a post office, is a disciple of Jesus Christ that was sent out. All right, what about apostasy? Apostasy is this, you had an original position and you moved, you were sent away from that original position. So, in the end times, the Bible talks about, Before the Lord Jesus Christ comes back, it talks about the church falling away. Many falling away. And what we're seeing is right now that very thing happened. And it started, if you know anything about history, about a hundred years ago. And it's been progressively going more and more in that direction. Why am I mentioning that? Well, because there are some people today that claim to be Christians. And they say things like this, it doesn't matter whether Jesus rose again from the dead. It was an allegory of something. Guys, if he didn't rise from the dead, you know what St. Paul says about that? If he didn't rise from the dead, your faith is vain. Like, you have no reason. Guys, if he didn't rise from the dead, go fishing, go play golf, do something constructive right now. Why are you in church? So I can learn to be a good boy and a good girl. You could learn that somewhere else. Honestly, you guys are looking at me like I'm crazy. I'm being serious. You could go somewhere else to learn good morals. You don't have to come to church for that. But if that man 2,000 years ago said, hey, I'm going to lay down my life and I'm going to take it back again. And three days later, I'm going to build this temple once again. And he comes out of that grave, that changes everything. And he did. And as a result, listen, this stuff does matter. Others will say, well, you know, whether he's born of a virgin, who cares? Churches are saying that now. Does it matter? It used to be, even, I mean, ten years ago. I'll put it to you this way. Some of you maybe aren't tracking me right now. Anybody here frequent Starbucks? It's not a trick question. Anybody here go to Starbucks? Anybody here? All right. Okay. All right. I am definitely one of them. All right. So, I have never gone to Starbucks and said, yeah, when I pull up to the window, yeah. So, if you could, I'd like a Frosty. and a large fry, and a quarter pounder. You know what they would say? Hey, bud, you're at the wrong place. So some people go, doctrine, we shouldn't talk about doctrine, because then doctrine kind of divides. Let me say it like this. If you are wanting to adopt a pet, you don't go to a place where they're butchering animals. You understand what I'm saying? Like, there's a difference. The reason I'm using the illustration is this. It used to be, if you want to go find a church, you go look up on their website and go, here's what we believe. You know how many churches are taking that stuff off now? You know why? They don't want you to know what they believe. Because they basically say, it doesn't matter what you believe. Well, it doesn't matter what you believe. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. Who gets to rip? But if there's an afterlife and if there's an eternity and if there's such a thing as absolute truth, not a trick question, you don't have to raise your hand, but ask yourself, is there such a thing as absolute truth? All right, some would say yes, I can tell by your response there. And maybe some would say no, let me ask this. If you say no, I'm gonna ask you this question following up. You say, I don't believe there's absolute truth. I believe you just kind of find your own truth. Are you absolutely sure about that? And if you say yes, you just contradicted yourself. If you say, I just think we all kind of find our own truth, then that's a subjective statement and it may or may not be true. Jesus said this, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Now that's either, listen guys, if I got up here and I said, Adrian Dominguez, that's it guys, Pastor Adrian, I am the way. You guys are laughing right now, that's all right, it's good to laugh. I'm not the way, I'm not the truth, but he is. In other words, if there is such a thing as absolute truth, and some would say, well, you know, this person feels this way, and therefore, if they feel that way, okay, I feel like your car should be mine. Is that fair? Why not? That's my truth. Is that cool with you or no? I feel like your house should be mine. I feel like if I want to break in your house at 2 a.m., that's all right. No, no, no. It doesn't work that way. Who makes you the judge? Who eventually goes, who calls the balls and strikes? You know what the answer is? Not the preacher, not you, not the church. You know who does that? The Lord Jesus Christ does. If there is a higher authority, and the Bible shows us that there is, can you guys honestly, honestly, honestly guys, think about this. If our planet is just so many miles closer to the sun, we burn up like to a crisp. So many miles away from the sun, we freeze to death. How'd that happen? You ever look at what scientists say about your heart, and how that thing works, and the electrical nodes that go through there? Now you can choose to believe that out of random chance, it all just happened. I would love for you to go outside and go, man, look at that 2025 Toyota Tundra. I sure am glad the explosion in San Antonio took place and there came that truck. Now, why would you think that about something as complex as your body? There's a higher power, my friends. There's a higher power. And you know who it is? It's God. And He lays it out and He wants you to know Him. And so as a result, He goes, look, it's not about your truth or your truth. It's about my truth. You say, listen, David over and over talks about thy truth. Jesus says this, sanctify them through thy truth to the Father. Thy word is truth. It either is or it is not. You can't have it both ways. So as it relates to this, it does matter if Jesus says He came from God and He did not, that would make Him a liar. I cannot tell you how many times I've been out talking with people, or out on the street somewhere, or maybe even a co-worker, and they go, well, you know, I believe in Jesus. Okay, good. It's kind of like I believe in the Abraham Lincoln. You know, I believe in George Washington. And what they mean is, I believe in Jesus. He's a cool guy. You know, kind of like a hippie that wore sandals and walked around and people liked him and brought people together. And he said nice things. And that's how people view Jesus, alright? And then I say, okay, what do you think about this? He said, I am the way, the truth, the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by Him. They go, well, I mean, I think everyone kind of has to find their own path. So is he right or is he wrong? Well, I believe in Jesus, I just don't know that, and then here's what happened, here's the next step. How do we know Jesus actually said that? See, that's where it goes. When you don't like what Jesus says in black and white, you go, well, maybe it's gray, maybe it ain't really Him. Because you've already pre-designed what you think Jesus would and wouldn't do. And I'm not going to go into manuscript evidence this morning. There are thousands of manuscripts with variations in them, and they all point to the Lord Jesus Christ said, including what you're reading in this passage. I sell that to say it does matter whether or not he lied. If he lied, you can't trust him. If he lied, he is not a good man. I've had people say this. Well, I believe in Jesus. I think he's a good man. I follow his teachings. Be kind and love people and turn the other cheek and all that kind of stuff. Then you get to, okay, did he die? Was he buried? Was he risen from the dead? Is he who he said he was the son of God? Well, I'm not sure about that. Guys, let me tell you, if he got up and said that, he's not a good man if he's lying. We call those people cult leaders. Like David Koresh, anybody old enough to know what I'm talking about? Jim Jones, before my time but still know the name, Drink the Kool-Aid. If you're young here and you don't know what I'm talking about, go to TikTok and look up Drink the Kool-Aid. You might figure it out, all right? It's a bad connotation, but the idea is this. The idea is when someone gets up and says they're basically God and they're not, we don't go, follow that guy. Either he is who he say was or he isn't. And you know what he says here? He goes, look, you are from beneath, I'm from above. Ye are of your father, the devil. I came from God. Look at John 8, verse number 42. John 8, verse 42. Johnny, you know what's funny? People see all the time. To me, I just I find it comical. Reality TV ain't reality. You understand that, right? It's all scripted. You understand that. And people will stream all the reality. Knock yourself out. I'm not saying you're wrong for doing it, but I want you to understand it's not reality. That's all I'm saying. If a camera followed you around all day with unscripted and watched you pick your nose and all the gross things that you do when you don't think anybody's watching, that would be reality TV. Nobody would pay to watch it, but it would be reality TV. My point in saying that is, we live in a generation that goes, give it to me real. And then you give them what the Bible says, and they're like, well, I don't want it. Can you repackage that? Everyone talks about how real they want it until God starts talking. Look look at John 8 and look at verse 42 Jesus said of them if God were your father ye would love me For I proceeded forth and came from God neither came I of myself But he sent me now. I want to I want to show you a couple things look if you would at Psalm chapter 2. Go to the Old Testament, middle of your Bible, go to Psalms chapter 2. Now, you know what? Time, time, time, time, time. Sorry, sorry. Go to John 1, then we'll go to Psalm 2. John chapter 1, then Psalm 2. There's an order to all of this. John chapter 1. And let me show you something that the Bible says about the person of Jesus Christ. Look at John chapter 1 and look at verse 1. When you look at the different Gospels, you'll find that Matthew gives a genealogy. And Matthew goes, this guy begat this guy, and this guy had this kid, and this guy had this kid. And it shows a lineage of people that shows the line of kings that would come through the nation of Israel from the tribe of Judah. And then Mark has no genealogy whatsoever, because Mark presents him more like a servant. And then Luke goes all the way back to Adam, but it shows a genealogy nonetheless, because Luke presents Jesus as a man. But then John. John does not have a genealogy. You know why? Because in the beginning was God. How much further back can you go? Look at John 1, verse 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was what? God. All right. Now, that doesn't prove anything about Jesus yet, but I want you to notice what it says in verse 3. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. You go, well, yeah, of course. That's God the Father. Hold on, though. Keep your hand here and flip the page and look at verse 14. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Okay, well, who is that? Look at verse 14. And the Word was made, what? And dwelt among us, and we beheld... Who's he talking about? He's talking about Jesus Christ. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. If I were taking notes in my Bible, I'd underline that phrase, begotten of the Father, because we're going to explain that here in just a moment. But what I'm trying to get you to understand is this, that the Bible says way back in eternity, go to Genesis 1, then we'll go to Psalm 2, Genesis 1, before time. Now, in order for God to be God, there's three things he has to be able to live outside of. Time, space, this is science, time, space, and matter. If he is a part of that, he is a created being, and he can't be God. I mean, I know some of you are all into Thor and the hammer and all that, but he ain't God either, right? If you're part of time or space or matter, you're part of creation. You can't be God. So the New Age kind of presents it this way. There's a divine spark in every one of us that comes from God, and because of that, we're basically God. Except for, here's the problem, we're not. Because the Bible says in Genesis 3 that when man sinned, he lost the image of God. The only way you get that back is through a spiritual transaction where you accept what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross of Calvary. So look at Genesis chapter 1. Genesis 1. And again, what I'm showing you is before all of this existed, look at Genesis chapter 1, there was God. And then when God begins to create, toward the end of that creation, look at verse number 26. John 1, excuse me, Genesis 1, 26. And God said, what's the word after let? So God equals us. I'm not gonna get into too much of the Hebrew and Greek and all that stuff, but you know the name for God in Hebrew, Elohim? You know it's a plural name. That heme on the end, eme, is plural. You say, but it's not gods. It's not multiple gods. It's one God. So why did you say in Genesis 126, and God said, if I were talking, I wouldn't say, and Adrian said, let us, unless there was someone there besides me. You understand what I'm saying? In other words, when God said, let us make man in our image, is what it says there, the Bible clearly says in Genesis 5 that God created male and female in His image. So clearly this is God talking to God. We would call that, and the New Testament calls that, the phrase for that is the Godhead. You might refer to that as the Trinity, the three in one. God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, and you know, typically we say God the Son, but I'm going to use the term God the Word, referring to Jesus Christ, because before time existed, these three were one in perfect unison, and He was not known as the Son. That distinction was not there. That doesn't come until time. That comes later. And I'll show you what I mean by that. In eternity past, He was simply called the Word of God. That's why He says in John 1, "...in the beginning was the..." Not the Son. He doesn't say, in the beginning was the Son, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So before time and space and matter was in creation, God did that. These three, as it says in 1 John 5, these three are one. Alright, in light of that, look at Psalm 2. Middle of your Bible, Psalm 2. Is this kind of making sense so far? According to the Bible, Jesus is God and He was not created. He always has existed. However, the Bible says this in 1 Timothy 3, God was manifest in the flesh. John, you just read it, says it this way. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Talking about the life of Jesus. In other words, I've had people ask me this multiple times. Before Jesus was born, where was He? Anybody ever thought about that? Well, I can tell you this. He wasn't eternally like a baby in a cradle. According to the Word of God, before he was begotten, in other words, before he was born on this earth, before that took place, he existed as God. He always has been. When Moses goes over there in Exodus 4, and Moses goes, hey, I like the whole fire in the bush thing, and this is great, and I love the throwing down the rod, and it turns into a snake, and I grab it, it turns back into a rod. That's awesome. But when they ask me, who was it that sent you, Moses, what do I tell them? You know what he says? You know what God says? Tell them, I am that I am. Moses is right down, I am that, wait, what? Lord, did you mean to say I was that I was? No, no, I'm here right now. Well, you mean like you will be who you will be? No, no, I just mean I am that I am. You see, that encompasses everything. That's an eternal state. He's always existed. He did not need to be created. And so, as Jehovah God, as God in eternity past, as we know Him as Jesus, as the Son of God, He was known eternally as the Word of God. Look at Psalm chapter 2, though. Psalm chapter 2. Now we're talking about time. Now we're talking about God saying, I'm going to set my son as the king over the entire world. Now, we haven't experienced that yet. According to the Bible, that is a future event still. For those maybe a little more in tune with recent events, have you noticed all the noise going on in the Middle East? Anybody notice that? All right. And it's been that way. Look, I'm old for some of you. I'm 44. And it's been that way since I was a kid. It's been a mess, and that's why anyone that ever puts their hand into trying to bring peace in the Middle East, it's like a dog getting, you know, a hand goes in and they get... Why is that because that whole thing is going to be where history ends up at the end just because that's what god said It's where it started its way. It's made its way all the way around. It's come all the way back and promises god gave to abraham Physically god is going to deliver on romans 11 revelation 12 so on and so forth. I say all that to say this All right. Now we're getting into time not no longer in eternity. Look at what it says in psalm chapter 2 in verse number 6. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree, the Lord, capital L-O-R-D, that's what people would call the Tetragrammaton. That's a big, fancy way of saying a four-letter word. But when I say four-letter word, you don't think good things, do you? So Tetragrammaton, L-O-R-D, Lord, that's Jehovah God. The Lord has said to me, thou art my, what's the next word? Now, who is He talking to? It's God the Father speaking to God the Son. Then I want you to see the rest of the phrase. What's the next word? Day. That's a place in time. So, in other words, listen, when Jesus says, I came from God, what He's saying is, look, I'm not born like everybody else. I didn't have a physical father like all of you did. My Father is God. Remember when the Lord shows up to Mary and He says this, that thing which shall be conceived in thee will be of the Holy Ghost. In other words, man's not going to be involved with that. It's going to be a supernatural thing. Now, I'm not going to have you go back there, but over in Genesis 3, it talks about the seed of the woman. We're not going to have biology class this morning. We understand that that's not what a woman possesses. She possesses the egg. Man possesses the seed. And yet, he says the seed of the woman would triumph over the seed of the serpent. That is prophecy about Jesus being born of a virgin. And so here what you have is, he says, I came from God. And so what we're learning is this. God the Father says, hey, this day have I begotten thee. In other words, what Jesus said is 100% on the money. He didn't come from just some normal relationship between Father and Mother. Look if you would at, I'm trying to think here. Look at Matthew chapter one. Go to Matthew one. Matthew one. Matthew chapter one. And the Bible says comparing spiritual things with spiritual. That's how you learn the Bible. So we're flipping through the pages for that reason. Plus, I don't want you to ever walk out here and go, that's just his opinion. I want you to see it for yourself. You know, it's a shame that in a lot of churches you go to, no one even opens a Bible. The guy gets up and gives you some feel-good thing for 20 minutes, and some of you are like, man, 20 minutes sounds really nice. And you walk out not learning anything about God or His book. Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. You get that from right here. Look at Matthew chapter 1. Look if you would at verse 11. Go back to verse 1. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. So they're arguing with him about Abraham being their dad, and Jesus is like, well, he's mine too. But furthermore, my actual father, physically speaking, the one that begot me was not a human being. It was a supernatural event. Look at Matthew 1 and skip down, if you would, to verse number 11. And Josias begat Jeconias and his brethren about the time they were carried away to Babylon. Now, if you follow this thing all the way down, what you'll find, look, if you would, down at verse number 16. And Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of who? All right, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. In other words, Matthew 1 gives you the lineage of Joseph. And in the lineage of Joseph is a man named Jeconiah. And you may go, well, who cares? I don't really care about that. It doesn't matter to me. But if you care about learning whether or not Jesus Christ was born of a virgin or not, this is historical proof that he was. Or he would not be the Son of God. Because, go to Jeremiah chapter 22. Remember that name, Jeconiah. Remember that name. Look at Jeremiah chapter 22. Jeremiah 22. Jeremiah 22. Jeremiah 22, and look if you would at, and I'm not gonna, I don't have time to do this to go into history, but basically what you have is God brings Israel out of Egypt, establishes them in the promised land. They have judges that rule over them, and eventually they have kings that rule over them because they wanted a king so they could be like all the nations around about them. Some kings were good, some kings were bad. Eventually the bad outweighed the good, and what God said is this, if you follow my law, I'll bless you in the land. If you basically spit on my law and you reject it and do your own thing and worship other gods, I will have you dispersed into other nations. You will become captive. You will become prisoners of those nations. In Jeremiah 22, we're learning about one of those places where Babylon comes in and removes the king. The king that was there is a man named Jeconiah. He's the man that's listed in Matthew chapter 1. Is this making sense so far? So, in Matthew 1, we learn that Jeconiah is the great-great-great-great-great-great-whatever granddad of Joseph, the husband of Mary. If Joseph is the father, and I'm old enough to remember the 90s, you know, is this man your father? You know, they come to the little talk show thing, and the guy comes out, and you're, not the father, not the daddy. If you did this with Jesus and Joseph, you'd find out Joseph is not the father. Amen. Sorry for the illustration. Maury Povich or whoever it was. There was another guy, Jerry something. Anyways, I'm going to move on. The whole point is Joseph's not the dad because Jeconiah is listed in the genealogy. Why does that matter? Look at Jeremiah 22. Look at Jeremiah 22 and look if you would at verse number 28. Is this man Kaniah?" You go, well, who's Kaniah? He's the same guy as this guy. Take the S off, that's Greek. Put the H there, that's Hebrew. J-E, that's the name for Jehovah God. Like Jesus, Jehovah saves. So when you take the J-E off, all you've got is a man void of God. So God says, I know he called himself Jeconiah. I'm calling him Kaniah. Because of what he did. Alright, so look what it says here. What's the next word? That's how someone begets someone else. Now, look what it says in verse number 30. What's the next word? a man that shall not prosper in his days, for no man of his seed shall prosper sitting upon the throne of David and ruling anymore in Judah." Isn't Jesus Christ called the Lion of the tribe of Judah? Well, if Joseph is his dad, he does not get the throne. He is not the King of Kings. He is not the Lord of Lords. He is none of that. So, you know what you see here? What you see here is this. When Jesus says, I came from God, He means literally. Not just in some metaphorical, allegorical way, but I didn't need a father physically on this earth like all the rest of you humans did. If you think about it in a weird way, Jesus is kind of like Superman. He comes from another place, comes from out of this world, talks to his father in the fortress of solitude, try to kill him, and he just comes right back. He says, look, I'm not from here. He says, you're from beneath, I'm from above. And so what I'm trying to get you to understand is from a scientific, from a biological standpoint, man was not his father, which is why he says, go back to John chapter 8, this is why he says what he says here. And I want to remind you there's four possibilities for the birth of Jesus. All right, four. And we'll kind of close with this thought as you get to John chapter eight. Number one, he was never physically ever born, which means history is like, we throw all the history out. And by the way, it's not just the Bible. I've had people go, well, you know, you kind of believe a circular thing because you believe the Bible and it talks about Jesus, but no one else talks about Jesus. That's not true. Other authors wrote about the person named Jesus. And they called him, they say he was professing to be the Christ. And other authors who were not born-again Christians wrote about the fact that over 500 people saw this man after his death and burial and resurrection. I mean, these aren't the followers. They aren't even disciples of Jesus. And they're going, yeah, I was alive around the time where everyone's talking about this. It'd be like you writing in the future about the floods that just took place in Texas. And then someone goes, I don't know if those things ever existed. Well, don't you think you should listen to people that are actually there? Well, we're listing the people that were actually there, and they say this man. So, number one, either, you know, you could say he was never actually physically born. You can make that claim, but that's kind of anti-historical. Number two, you could say, well, he was born, but he was born like everybody else. Now, if you believe that, then you've got to come to grips with the rest of his story is all a lie. Do you watch anybody, anybody here born of a man able to raise the dead? Anybody here born of a man able to come back from the dead? on your own? The answer is no, if you're a sane person. None of us have that power because we aren't Him. Let me say it like this. Thirdly, you could say, well, He was born, but He was born out of fornication and Mary got with some other guy and they tried to cover it up. Same problem. Or lastly, you could just say, you know what? It's hard for me to wrap my mind around it. It really is. I'll tell you what else is hard to wrap my mind around. How about eternity? forever and ever. Now look, watch it. Some of you go, oh, I have no problem with that. You do in one direction. You do. You go, oh man, being in heaven, you know, where my dog is at and where my, you know, grandma is at and I get to fish all day, whatever your idea of heaven is, you know, and I get to be there forever and ever and ever and ever, you know, and I'll be, you know, 25 and, you know, 30 and flirty forever and whatever else. I'll look great and All that stuff. Yeah, okay. Forever sounds great. What about forever in the other direction? If what Jesus said is true, in Mark chapter 9, you see what he's saying in Mark 9, where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. You go, well, I can't imagine that. I'll be honest with you guys. I'm not here to tell you, number one, I don't like the thought. Number two, it's really hard to imagine that. We know people that suffer, but there's an end to their suffering. And you go, well, how could a loving God send people there? Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back it up. Back up the truck there. Who gave you the idea of God sending them there? I mean, it seems to me like a couple thousand years ago, He showed up and kind of tried to fix the whole thing. And if you don't want to take his way out, doesn't that seem like it's on you? If this building was on fire, and you know, Brother Phoenix is like, alright guys, let's go! And John's like, I'm going to fight this one out myself. And we all get out of the building, and he doesn't make it. He can't shake his fist at Phoenix and go, why didn't you get me out of here? Felix tried to get him out. He said, no thanks. If you die without Jesus Christ as your Savior, what you're saying is, I will pay the bill myself. And you will. And it'll be forever. And understand, He never designed you for that. You know who He designed you for? He designed you for that forever and ever and ever and ever. Wrapping my mind around forever is a hard thing. Wrapping my mind around someone that has always the I am that I am. That's hard to imagine. I was born and I'll die. You're born and you'll die. You're born and you'll die. That's just the way we understand. We're linear. There's an end to it. And God goes, I'm like this. I never started, I will never end, I will always be. I am that I am. And when you look at the person of Jesus Christ, what you learn is, verse 42, he says this, In other words, I did not come through normal means. That's why when the Bible teaches and goes through the history of Mary, as an example, and giving birth to Jesus as a virgin, if you don't accept that, then you have to throw out everything else that it says about Him. If He's not that, then He's not the Son of God. And if He's not the Son of God, He can't die for your sins. He'd be just another dude. Living his life. I can't die for Joe's sins. Joe can't die for my sins. You know who has to die for someone's sins? A sinless man. the spotless Lamb of God. That's why John the Baptist said, behold the Lamb of God, not that covers the sin, but that takes away the sin of the world. So as we go into John, we're constantly reminded over and over, Jesus is not just some man. He is God manifest in the flesh. Let's all stand, we'll stop there. Gave you a little bit of, that was more of a, kind of a deeper study on this thing.