Psalm 108, O God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and give praise even with my glory. Awake, lute and harp. I will awaken the dawn. I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples and I will sing praise to You among the nations. For Your mercy is great above the heavens and Your truth reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens and Your glory above all the earth. that your beloved may be delivered. Say with your right hand and hear me. People of God, grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray. We thank you, O Heavenly Father, for your gift of salvation to us. We thank you that in the name of Jesus Christ we have now been given access to come before your very throne of grace. We thank you that you have also given us this great blessing to be called Your children and heirs of that everlasting life through Christ our Lord. We pray, Heavenly Father, that You would bless us too with the gift of Your Holy Spirit who dwells in us, that we would be enlivened in our worship, that our hearts would be filled with the warmth of love for You who first loved us. All this we pray in the name of Jesus, our Savior, who taught us to pray, saying, Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen. Let's continue worshiping God, singing hymn 58, O Splendor of God's Glory Bright. At this time, we will recite our faith. First of all, we will Say it from Lord's Day 48 of the Heidelberg Catechism, which is on page 47. And then from the Apostles' Creed. Lord's Day 48 is comprised of question 123. What is the second petition? Your kingdom come, that is, so govern us by your word, that we submit ourselves to you always more and more. Preserve and increase your church, Destroy the works of the devil, every power that exalts itself against you, and all wicked devices formed against your holy word until the fullness of your kingdom come wherein you shall be all in all." Now, people of God, let us recite our common faith seeing these words. I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified dead and buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. At this time, let us go to our Lord in a time of prayer. So join with me as we approach our gracious heavenly Father. O Lord, our God, we acknowledge You to be our great God, the One who made us, the One who has given us all things that we need of for body and soul, the One who has delivered us from all our sins and from this present evil age and will deliver us from it when Christ our Savior comes in glory to judge the living and the dead and to take His people to be with Him. We thank You, Heavenly Father, are able to come to you in faith, the faith that you have called us to, and the faith that you encouraged us in by sending your Son, Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave Himself for us. And we ask, Heavenly Father, that we would always recognize that this faith is a gift to us. For it is not of our own doing, it is not of our own righteousness or our own ability, but we have been granted this through Your Holy Spirit who has renewed us and has made us alive as new creatures. We pray that, Lord, in this faith we would ever live and walk, because without this faith, Lord, we know that it is impossible to please You. For who are we in Your sight but sinners? And who are we to come to You in prayer and in desires and wants. For, Lord, what do we deserve from You? Your wrath. Your just displeasure. But we come in the name of Christ. It is He that we believe. And we thank You, Lord, that we are able to bring all our desires, all our needs to You. Asking You to hear us and give to us what we have need of, knowing, Lord, that even the occasions for our needs are of your doing. For, Lord, you are sovereign over all, and the circumstances of our life are the outworking of your perfect plan. And though we have planned things in our lives and we have hoped that our plans would go one way, yet when they do not go as we expect, we can always expect that your plan is working out just as You had determined even before the world began. And Lord, we do not find such an idea as a hindrance to our prayer, but rather a help to our prayer. For we know, too, that our prayers are according to Your purpose. It is Your desire to hear Your children call upon Your name and to bless Your children according to their needs. We ask that You would Hear our prayers for the sake of our work, our labors, our families, O Lord. We pray that you would bless the needs in our families for good households, faithful households, good relationships between husbands and wives, where we are models of the gospel, where we see our children also walking in the ways that we teach them. And we pray that you would bless all our children's ministries here at St. John's and in our homes. We pray that the promise that was received by us, given to us, will also come to them, that they will hear the gospel truth and have faith and continue that generation of believing in Jesus Christ and being a witness and a testimony to the love of God. We ask that you would continue that faithfulness to us even to a thousand generations. Those who love you and keep your commandments. We ask, Lord, that you would bless the needs that we have come to you with in our prayer time the ones that are listed, and even the ones that are not. For Lord, we do not always get in the prayer needs at the right time, or they come late, or we are perhaps not willing to admit to the church what we have need of. But Lord, at all times, you know what we need, and we can be thankful that you will give us what we need. We pray for our missionary works again. We pray for the RCUS at large, for all the works there, for all our churches. Oh, Lord, keep us faithful. Keep us proclaiming the truth of the gospel. We pray for our brothers and sisters being persecuted. We've heard again of those who have been kidnapped in places like Nigeria, those who are being held for ransom, those whose lives are in danger week by week. We ask, Lord, that you would watch over your persecuted people. Grant them safety, but grant them boldness. Grant them wisdom, too, to know how to be bold in a dangerous time. Again, we pray for Natasha's father, suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. Grant him, Lord, bless him in his needs. We pray for Crystal, who is expecting We thank you for this life. We thank you for this gift. And we pray that even now, you would be fulfilling the promise that was granted to the parents, to this child. Again, we lift it to you, the Terrell family, that you would grant them according to their needs. They would be able to recover soon from this fire. and that they would be able to return to their house in due time. We ask, Heavenly Father, a blessing upon Jamie's father as well. Grant all that he is in need of in his suffering and grant him relief. And we ask, Heavenly Father, that you would bless Reverend Lee and his family. We thank you for the gift of grace to them and your love for them and care. Help us, Lord, praying We pray also for Ken as he is continuing his chemo and radiation treatments. We pray for all those who at this time as well are suffering various illnesses. We know that there are some people missing today because of illnesses at home. We pray that you would bless them and grant them quick recovery from these seasonal illnesses. We pray for Logan and for Oliver. for Samuel. We pray, Lord, even for those who will soon be returning back to college, having had this time away. We thank you for this reprieve that was given to them. Bless them in their studies as they go back to college. We pray also for Dave Bronning's mother in hospice care. Oh, Lord, watch over her. Grant comfort and grace to the Bronning family. In this time, Heavenly Father, we thank you that all these things are known by you, and all these things are working out for all of our good and for all of our salvation. Though at times it sounds like it's just a stale platitude to say that, Lord, we know it's true. You are good in all things that you do for your people, and we can trust that even though we might not understand why we have to go through this or that suffering or why this or that is happening to us, we know, Lord, that your love never ceases for us. And so, Lord, grant us that assurance as we lift up these prayers to you. Again, we pray for our nation. We pray for our leaders. We pray for our President, President Trump. We ask that you grant him wisdom and understanding, grant him to know The great salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray the same for our vice president and for all those who hold office, whether it's in Congress or who have been elected to serve in the judicial branch. We pray for a governor and for the mayor of our city and for all those lawmakers here in Nebraska and our town. Grant them wisdom and understanding and that they would enact policies that are for the good of the people rather than for their tearing down in unrighteousness. And we ask, Heavenly Father, that you would bless also those who serve in law enforcement and in the fire departments, who serve also as emergency medical workers. We thank you for these services that we have in this community. Protect them. Keep them from evil, O Lord. Grant them also a blessing in knowing that In this, they are serving in a great way for the good of this community and society. And we ask all these things in the name of Jesus our Savior. Amen. Let us stand once again singing hymn 398. 398. Christ whose glory fills the skies. As we take our seats, let's turn to our Bibles, to John chapter 1, and we will read verses 1 through 4. John chapter 1, 1 through 4. Hear now God's Holy Word. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. That's far from God's Holy Word. Again, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God remains forever. Let us bow in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the light of truth that you've given to us. The Word of God, who is Jesus Christ, has spoken to us this light, and he has imparted life to us. Help us, O Lord, in that light, to see light, to know truth, to live for you, to have the life of Christ at work in us. All this we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. beloved congregation of Jesus Christ. It has been my custom for the past 10 years in Arkansas to preach through an Advent series on various passages dealing with themes related to the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Advent season, traditionally, has also been a forward-looking season. It's a season where we look two ways. back to the first coming of Christ, but also anticipating the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ once again. And so, when we consider what God has given to us, that gives us hope for the future, because we know that Christ has delivered us. And when He comes again to judge the living and the dead, we know that He is coming as our Savior, as our salvation. And so we want to keep that hope alive. And that's why every year I've done this Advent series. We're going to go through the first half of John chapter 1 for this year's series. Today we're looking at the opening of John's Gospel. And it begins in a glorious way. It begins in a way that for our human minds might be very, very difficult to comprehend. What seems in the Gospel of John is rather simplistic in its wording. Once you begin to dive deeper into it, it becomes anything but simplistic. That's the beauty of John's Gospel, isn't it? Read it, and you think at first, ah, I think I know what's going on. But then as you contemplate it more, you realize, what I thought was an inch deep really goes down to depths that I don't think I could truly fathom. John begins in a very simple way. In the beginning. In the beginning was what? In the beginning, we know from Genesis, the heavens and the earth were created. That's what Genesis says, in the beginning. So what are we talking about here? That beginning. There is no other beginning than that beginning. Because when we contemplate the being of God, was there a beginning for God? No. God is from everlasting to everlasting. He's eternal. He always was. By the way, try to think of that with our finite human minds. And if you're like me, your head will start hurting trying to contemplate eternity. And so though it says, in the beginning, we're already brushing up against eternity itself, because we had a beginning, the world had a beginning, this universe that we know of had a beginning. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. God was there at the beginning. He didn't begin to exist at that time. In fact, there was not a time where he began to exist. He always existed. Now, when we come to this word, the word, we need to rightly understand who it is we're talking about. First of all, we see that the word in the beginning is a person. That's very clear from verse 2. It says he. It doesn't say it. It says he. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him. And without Him, nothing was made that was made in Him. Again, we're talking about a person. That becomes clear as we go on through the beginning of John's Gospel. We're not talking about John as some might have thought in verse 6. We're talking about Him is the Word who became flesh, verse 14, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory is of the only begotten, the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So it becomes very clear who we're talking about when we say the Word. We're talking about the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father. As our catechism says, God has many sons, right? We are all children of God. There's only one unique Son. There's only one begotten of the Father. We are made by God. We are formed in the womb by God. But Jesus Christ is begotten of God. And not begotten as if He had a beginning either. Because He is God. Theologians trying to wrap their minds around the eternity of the Son. How He is begotten. They had to come up with this phrase. Eternally begotten. Now how do you understand that? Well, once we come into the doctrine of God itself, we have to realize the finitude of our own minds. How can we fully grasp these things? Again, we're dealing with what seems at first a simple way of stating things. But already, already we've come up to the fact that our minds are limited in fully understanding the truth of Jesus Christ. We understand the truth, but to fully comprehend it, that's another matter. The Word is Jesus Christ. But why does John call Him the Word? It's a question that we need to understand. Why does he call Him the Word? Well, very simply, it's because, if you go back to the beginning chapters, what did God do to establish the earth. He spoke. He spoke. In Greek, it's a specific word. John could have used the word rhema, which is the Greek for word. He uses logos, which is a little deeper way of expressing someone's speech. It's a rational discourse, if you will. It's a discourse of God. It's a discourse that requires, first of all, contemplation. When people heard the word logos, that's the word here in Greek, they thought of two things, the inner rational discourse that then would spring forth into spoken discourse. In other words, we can say the wisdom of God and the speech of God. God created the heavens and the earth by His speech, didn't He? He spoke and it came into existence. But we see also that this speech happened because of God's deliberation. From all eternity, God had a counsel. He had a purpose. And when He set the earth in motion, it was according to His purpose. It's fulfilled according to His purpose. As we come to our day and age, we see that the earth has always existed. Why? Because of God upholding it by His Word. Think of the doctrine not only of creation, but also the doctrine of providence. God upholds all things by His Word, and He is bringing all things to pass according to His wisdom and purpose. In the plan of salvation, God spoke the Word to the people of God. He spoke first the promises. He spoke by the prophets concerning His Son Jesus Christ. And now that word has come to pass. But God spoke by the prophets and times pass. Why? Because it was according to His wisdom and purpose that He should deliver us and save us. Here's the thing that's quite surprising then John's gospel. He says that deliberation, that speech, wasn't simply done by God the Father. It was also through Jesus Christ. This is surprising, of course, to people who at this point in time had not really come to a full understanding the doctrine of God. They had, of course, the Old Testament. They had hints in the Old Testament. They had types in the Old Testament of the coming of Christ, that this coming Christ would be a divine person. That's why Isaiah calls him a wonderful counselor, everlasting father, prince of peace, and so on. Calls him God. This word, this speech of God is done by a person. Jesus is also called the wisdom of God. In Him are hidden all the treasures and wisdom of God. When Christ came, what was God doing? He was speaking to us. Fulfilling His Word, but also speaking a message to us. The message is Jesus Himself. Jesus is God saying to us, of that salvation that He had promised and that He delivered, that He counseled from eternity past. Jesus is the one through whom He spoke and all things came into existence. Without Him, nothing was made that was made. So again, the word here is the Lord Jesus Christ. But it shows us that the Lord Jesus Christ is God's ultimate message to us. First of all, He is the message of creation. God spoke and it came into being. He's the message of God's providence to us. He's the one through whom the world continues to be upheld. But ultimately, He's the message of salvation to us. Why did Christ come to save sinners. Now that we have established the identity of the Word here, let's say something about Him. First of all, we see that the Word is the distinct Son of God. Secondly, we'll see that the Word is divine. And thirdly, we will see that the Word is life and light. So Jesus Christ, whose word is spoken here, is distinct from God the Father, yet one with Him in being. And He is the one who imparts light and life to men. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. With implies distinction, doesn't it? If I'm with somebody, you know that there are at least two people involved here. Maybe I'm with a group of people, but I am distinct from the others. I don't take that analogy too far, because God also teaches us that the Word was God. He is divine. There is only one God, we admit, in Scripture. God is one. But there is this distinction, isn't there? The Word, the Son of God, was with God. Now how do we understand this completely? We don't. When we talk about the doctrine of the Trinity, we always have to say, thus far I know, and no further. And we have to be able to live with mystery, especially the mystery of the doctrine of the Trinity. This is our God. This is who he is, one God who exists in three persons. Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Now, of course, we haven't gotten quite yet to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, but he's there quite clearly all throughout the Gospel of John. So I have no problem saying that there's a trinity of persons, a three-foldness of persons in the Godhead. But here we are talking about the Son of God with God. With God in ways that We could never fully grasp. The Word of God will say about Jesus that He was in the bosom of the Father. So it wasn't that He was just existing side by side. He's in with the Father. Because they are one in being. But when it expresses that, as it says later, that He is in the bosom of the Father, that's expressing a oneness of love and joy and fellowship. Of course, we have to be careful when we talk about this inward fellowship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit because we don't want to separate the persons from the divine being. We don't want to make three gods out of one God. People tend to do that sometimes when they talk about this inter-Trinitarian fellowship. So we want to be very careful here. But recognize, again, we're using human language to discuss the divine. How do we do that and give justice to the being of God? Well, we just simply state with the Bible, He is with God. With Him even before the beginning happened. Because in the beginning was the Word. He was there. And He was with God. What was God doing before the world began? Augustine said that, and Calvin repeats this, he says that, well, God was creating a hell for people who are overly curious. Well, we could say this as well. God was existing in fullness. It wasn't as if God was lonely and needed to make the world. God is in no way dependent upon us or upon the world. God exists in fullness and joy and peace and harmony and love. He had fellowship even before the world began because we see that here the Word was with God. Which brings us to the second thing here, that the Word is divine. He was with God, but then it says the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, but it says quite clearly the Word was God. Some of you might have had Jehovah's Witnesses knocking on your door, and they will say to you, oh, it says that the Word was a God. We don't take from that that He was God, but that He was a God. Well, you could get all technical, look up all those different grammatical rules, but it's quite clearly stated in the Greek in this way. God was the Word. That's how the order is in the Greek New Testament. God was the Word. And when it's put in that way, you know that there is no need for a definite article. Because it's already made definite. Who is the Word? He's God. God was the Word. Not a God. was God. Now, for many people, this is hard to grasp. I've dealt with Muslim people, too. They find this a very difficult concept. How can you say Jesus is divine? How can you say that he's the Son of God? God doesn't procreate. No, but God eternally begets his Son. How can you say that Jesus Christ is divine when he is a human being? It's because the Son of God, the divine person, took on flesh. That's what the Bible says. It says this in very clear and, we could say, simplistic language. But we always have to come back to the fact that who can fully grasp all these things? And yet, the language is quite clear in Scripture. God was the Word. Or as we put it in our English, the Word was God. He was not a god or some other lesser deity or a second God. We're not pluralistic or polytheists when it comes to our understanding of God. We understand there's only one God. And when we come to worship God, Who do we worship? We worship God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When we give glory to the Father, we give glory to the Son, just as we give glory to the Holy Spirit. When we pray to God, we pray also to our Savior, Jesus Christ. We can put it this way, we pray to the Father through the Son and in the power and grace of the Holy Spirit. But we can pray to each name of the Trinity. When we are baptized, what are we baptized? Into one name. That name contains three, doesn't it? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Who is glorified? Just the Father? No. The Son is glorified. The Holy Spirit is glorified. Let's remember that, people of God, when we worship. Because it's easy in our minds just to simply think of one divine being. It's easy in prayer, too, to pray to the Father and forget that we ought to also pray to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as well. But all three are one God. All three are divine. The Son, the Word of God, is divine. Notice, again, It speaks to us of the divinity of Jesus Christ. All things were made through Him. And without Him, nothing was made that was made. Who created the heavens and the earth? The Bible says God created the heavens and the earth. There were those who tried to say there was a lesser deity that created the heavens and the earth. And some even at that time, this is early church, heresies that were coming around, early church heresies, a lesser deity created the heavens and the earth. And that lesser deity perhaps could have been Jesus, because it says all things were made through him. But if he's a lesser deity, then somehow he had to have a beginning. Well, he has no beginning. He is gone. The Trinity of persons, the one Godhead people of God, must be maintained by us. It is essential to our faith. It is essential also to the preaching of the gospel, because what is John doing in the gospel of John? Preaching the gospel. It's tempting in our day and age to downplay the role of doctrine. Oh, the doctrine of the Trinity, that's too confusing. That's too hard for people to grasp. So, let's just preach about Jesus and let's forget about all that doctrinal stuff. Well then, throw out your Bibles if that's your viewpoint. Because here it is quite clearly. Laying down the foundation for our faith, for the preaching of the Gospel, John lays down the doctrine of the Trinity. John, the gospel that many people love for its simplicity, starts off in a way that boggles the mind. It's hard for people to understand. We're also accustomed in our day and age to think, if I can clearly see the practical outworkings of a doctrine, then it has to be true. Are you able, people of God, at this moment in time to think through every practical implication of the doctrine of the Trinity? I'll be the first to admit, I'm not. But in Scripture, it's quite clear that there are practical implications to the doctrine of the Trinity. But first of all, I come to a mystery that I cannot grasp. I come to a mystery that is beyond me. I come to a mystery that is so wondrous in its teaching that the only thing I can do is fall down in worship and say, God, you are great. There's none like you who is like our God. You see, I don't and fully understand the doctrine of the Trinity. If I say I did, throw me out. Because I'm lying. I don't. I don't understand it. But this is what the Bible teaches. And it's glorious. It's glorious to contemplate. It's wonderful to think through that this God is the one who saved us. It is this God that we proclaim when we proclaim the Gospel to this fallen world and this fallen generation. It's this God that we have to proclaim, even though people cannot grasp it. Because this is the foundation of our faith, people of God. Jesus Christ is divine. He is the Son of God. He is the Word. He is the one that was with God in the beginning, speaking, and all things came to pass. All things came into existence. He's the one that is continuing to speak now, and all things are being upheld by the word of his power. He is the one who speaks to us in the gospel. And the church is created by the preaching of the gospel, by Jesus Christ himself. It's this doctrine, by the way, that gives us confidence in the preaching of the gospel. Because who is speaking? We say that the Good Shepherd is the one speaking. It's His voice we hear. It is Jesus Christ who is speaking to us, calling to us, calling us into that fellowship with God. And if Jesus was some lesser deity, some lesser thing, person, whatever you want to say, than God the Father, then we don't have the confidence that this calling to us is sure. Since He is with God and He is God, We know that when Christ calls us in the gospel, that it is into this fellowship, into the fellowship of the Trinity that we are called into. God himself invites us through Jesus Christ. So we can say with confidence, That the reading and the preaching of the Word of God is truly the Word of God. Not something less, not something unsure, but truly God's Word in all its glory, in all its infallibility, in all its inerrancy. Because it's Christ, the Son of God, who speaks. Again, we're made confident that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Why? Because in Him was life and the life was the light of men. God alone is said to have life in Himself. But we also read in the Word of God that Jesus Christ has life in Himself. Why did the world come into existence? Because there was someone living before the world was. That's why we call him the Living God. When we think of life, I think we think of life in ways that are not worthy to be called life. Because we think of life in ourselves, don't we? But what are we? We are those who can be gone in a moment. We are those who are considered vapor in scripture. What is man's life? 70, 80 years? Maybe more? If God is so granted to you, to compare to God, what is our life? No, in God is life. Immortal life. Indivisible life. Life that we cannot fully comprehend because we think, I was born. One day I die. We see people come and go. God ever is. He was. He is. He is to come. We think of life in a term of succession of moments. But there is no succession of moments in God, for He is eternity itself. A day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as a day for our God. It's all the same, because He's eternal. He's ever-living. So if we would seek life, why would we seek it in anything else? We seek life and food, don't we, because we know we need food to survive. We seek life and water because we need water. If you go without food in about three weeks, you're dead. If you go without water in about three days, you're dead. But if I hold my breath, I seek life and air, don't I? In three minutes about or so, you're dead without air. It's the rule of three, they say, in survival situations. Without these things, you cannot survive. People of God, we're more than food, we're more than clothing, we're more than the things that we need for our life. Do we not have souls? What about the life of our soul? How do we have such a life? Well, we can't eat food to sustain our souls. We can't drink water to sustain our souls. Where do we find sustenance? The Bible teaches us, doesn't it? In Him was life. And the life was the light of men. You see, what our souls need is light. It needs truth. It needs to be enlightened in the understanding and in the heart as well for the will to then be conformed to the will of God. But the Bible teaches us we are dead in trespasses and sins. We are not able to conform our wills to God. We're not able even to have that faith that God requires of us to have life unto salvation. Now what is required is to have life from Him, who is the Son of God, who also imparts His Holy Spirit to us so that we are enlightened and have the light of Christ now in us. When we think about life, people of God, our thought must go to Christ. Knowing that in Christ we have a God who will provide all our needs. Christ sustains us in the life that we have need of most. in our very souls. Will He not then give us all things? In Him was life, and the life was the light of man. Jesus is the wisdom of God. Jesus is the substance of Scripture. Scripture is nothing without Christ. Scripture will never make sense without Christ. Scripture, too, will never make sense to us without the gift of the Holy Spirit, who is imparted to us by Christ. And this is why John not only calls Him life, but light, the light of men. Your word, says the Word of God, is a lamp unto our feet, a light unto a path. But who is the one shining? in the Word of God. It is Christ. Without Christ, we would be blind. Not knowing where to go. Not knowing which way is best. Not knowing our right hand from our left hand. But in Christ, we have the light of truth. The light of God's understanding given to us. in its completeness, but in what is necessary for us to know for our salvation. People of God, when we preach the Gospel, again, we need to focus on Christ. Because it is Christ who enlivens our souls. God, who spoke in time past saying, let there be light, has spoken to us in the Gospel saying, let there be light. The light of Christ now shines in our hearts. And we have now that comprehension of salvation. It's a wonderful thing that Christ is the one who speaks to us. Why is that such a wonderful thing? It's because we have the certainty of God's love for us in the Word of God. When we hear the voice of Christ, we know that it is a God who loves us speaking. Because if we simply heard the voice of Him who created all things, do we have that assurance? No. God simply as Creator is not a comfort to us. Because God simply as Creator, yeah, He upholds all things, but do we have any assurance that when He comes to judge the living and the dead, that we will be among those who remain alive, or are we those who shall be sent into everlasting punishment? But no, we hear the voice of Christ. The message to us is Jesus Christ. And that's why we now have confidence that He is life and light to us. Why? Because as we go on to see in the Gospel of John, He gave His life for us. The message is this. Jesus Christ loved us and gave Himself for us. And so we can say with all certainty that the Word of God to us is a Word that imparts love in our hearts. He loved us. Why? Because He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for us. But why did He love us? It's because God, in His purpose, has determined to love us. To those who are called by His name, to those who are according to His saving purpose, we have that assurance, don't we? So we can praise God that His speech to us As the church of Jesus Christ, as those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, His speech to us is Christ, who is to us life and light. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ. We thank you for this amazing truth. And though we confess we do not comprehend everything that is spoken here, yet, Lord, Our hearts are nonetheless granted the assurance that you are speaking to us in love. All this we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.