The Gospel of John, if you have one of the church Bibles, which looks something like this, it's on page 1058, and I'm going to read John chapter 1, verse 1 through 18. We're going to look at several different passages this morning, but we will remain in the Gospel of John, so just be mindful of that. John chapter 1. I'm going to begin reading verse 1. I'm going to read all the way down to verse 18. Then I'm going to pray. Then we're going to look at John 1, 1 and 2. And then we'll look at a couple other passages in the Gospel of John. This is the reading of God's 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 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, and 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 and the world was made through him and the world did not know him. He came to his own and 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 become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as of 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 have all received and grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God at any time. The only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. Let's go before the Lord in prayer. Lord God Almighty, the God who speaks, The God who has spoken to us in these words, which we can go back to time and time again. The God who sends your Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds so that we can understand what you have said. Your Spirit who applies your word to our hearts and lives. Lord, we call upon you, asking you to help us to understand your word. Lord, we will be tracking in deep truths this morning, peering into the Godhead. May our hearts fall down in worship of you, in adoration as you, as the God who is, the tri-personal God, who has eternally existed in three persons, and gloriously come into this earth to save sinners, so that forgiveness might be available, so that reconciliation between you and man is possible. And so, Lord, we ask for your grace. Pray specifically for those who, were they to die this morning, would enter into your judgment and be punished in hell. Lord, we pray that they might find forgiveness and deliverance in the Lord Jesus this morning. We pray for those who have been delivered, that they might be nourished and sanctified and set apart and grow in respect to their salvation this morning through your most holy word. In Jesus' name, Amen. My brother is two years older than me, and I have two younger sisters who are equally four years younger than me. And growing up, at some point, I think I was about eight years of age, my sisters would begin to say things like, I remember before I was born, I used to fill in the blank. Now, I surmise that my sisters were not advocating an early doctrine of reincarnation, but they were picking up on conversations that we would have with them, that we would say, I remember before you girls were born, we used to do dot, dot, dot. And so, they would pick up on that and say, I remember before I was born, I used to do dot, dot, dot. Well, I was thinking about that this past week, And I began to think, the only person who could ever say those words truthfully, before I was born, I fill in the blank, is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only one who had a real human life, who existed before that real human life. He is the eternal God, the eternal Word as we read from our text this morning. And I want to, there's many different angles in which you can think about the coming of Christ, the birth of Christ. I think many of them look at it from more of a human angle. I want to get a glimpse of the purpose of the coming of Christ really in a very real sense from a divine perspective. And there's really no better place to take you in Scriptures than the Gospel of John. Because no other Gospel writer highlights the divinity, the deity of the second person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, more than John the Apostle. Now, I forewarn you this morning, you can toss aside the little snorkel and you can put on the deep-sea diving scuba gear. Because we're going deep this morning. We're going deep in peering into the eternal Godhead. Now, hopefully not deep in the sense of it's going to be hard for you to understand, but deep in the sense that we are going to be, as the older writers said, we're going to be tracking in profundities and immensities this morning. And hopefully as we track in these profundities and immensities, their hearts will overflow with adoration for the Lord Christ in particular, and the triune God in general. So this morning we are going to, first of all, behold the eternity before Christmas. And when I use the term Christmas, I mean the incarnation. Behold the eternity before Christmas. Hopefully you were able to see that with a even superficial reading of the passage. Look in John chapter 1 in verse 1. It says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. Now we look at that at first glance and we may think, is he talking about the Word of God, the Bible? And it becomes obvious he's not talking about the Word of God, the Bible, because at the end of verse 2 he says, He. The He points back to the Word. And then we look in verse 14, it says, The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory. The Word, in John 1, 1-18, is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, notice it says, in the beginning was the Word. What does John mean by this? Well, obviously, the beginning is an echo of Genesis 1, 1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. What John is doing is he's rewinding the clock. It's almost like, enter into a time machine with me. And let's go back in time. until the very beginning of beginnings, until the very creation, the first day of creation. And when you get back to that first day of creation, turn around and peer into eternity. And this is what you'll see. This is something of what you'll see. You will see the Word there and you will see God there. Now, he doesn't mention the Holy Spirit in this verse, the Holy Spirit he will talk about later on in John 13-17 quite extensively. But right now he wants us to peer into eternity past and to gaze upon the two persons within the eternal Godhead, the Father and the Son, or in this context, one called God, one called the Word. He says, in the beginning was the Word. The little verb was, it's in the imperfect tense, which means the idea of He was in an eternal, ongoing state in the past. He was, He always was. And then notice this phrase here, and the Word was with God. That helps us to see that this eternal Word co-existed with someone else, with God. And it's very interesting, the word that John uses here, the word with, that little preposition with, is not the normal word that's translated with. It carries more the idea of toward. In fact, this word with, it's always used of persons being with one another. A.T. Robertson, Greek scholar of the early 20th century said, quote, Prost, the word translated with, with the accusative presents a plane equality and intimacy, a plane of equality and intimacy, face to face with each other. John is communicating that when we rewind the clock and peer back into eternity, we see a picture of the eternal Word with the eternal God the Father with one another in a kind of face-to-face intimacy with one another. This kind of eternal love relationship within God Himself. I told you we were putting on the scuba gear. You may think, well, that seems to be something of a stretch here. Now, notice, before we move on and look at another verse, the text states plainly, at the end of verse 1, and the Word was God. He's saying that the Word was of the same essence as God, so that He's co-existent with the Father, but He's also co-equal with the Father as well. And then when we look down at verse 18, we get another window to the eternity before Christmas. It says, no one has ever seen God at any time. The only begotten, the one and only, the monogamous God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained to us. Notice the initial phrase, no one has ever seen God at any time. And someone might stop and say, well, didn't Moses see God? Didn't Abraham see God? Well, yes, in a sense. But there must be another sense in which they didn't see God. And it's probably more than likely saying that no one has ever seen God the Father, that all those appearances of God in the older covenant of the Bible, with Abraham and Moses and Joshua, was none other than Jesus Himself. He is the revealer of God. A word is something that is an expression of thought. He is the one who always reveals the Father, and He has done so since the beginning days of creation. so that those theophanies of the Old Testament are actually Christophanies. No one has ever seen God, but this is what makes it so glorious. The only begotten God. The only begotten, the one and only, who is Himself God. He is the one who explains Him. He is the Word of God. He is the manifestation of the Father. Not that he's not a real person in and of himself, but he is the one who reveals the Father. But again, we have another window into this eternal relationship between the Word and the Father. Notice where he's sitting. In the bosom of the Father. Wow. Now, the only other time we see this phrase in the Gospel of John, in the bosom of is in john chapter 13 verse 23 where it speaks of john the apostle it says there was reclining on jesus's bosom one of his disciples whom jesus loved speaking of john the apostle which at the last supper there were no doubt sitting on the floor, lying on the floor, and evidently John the Apostle, who is described as one whom Jesus loved, is resting his head on Jesus' chest. I mean, what kind of closeness is pictured there? This is the idea of either resting on the chest or even sitting on someone's lap. What more endearing phrase could we have to communicate to us what eternity was like before the world ever began? And even continues on. that the Father and the Son have this warm, intimate relationship. Now, it's interesting, throughout church history, many people have tried to explain the relationship between the Father and the Son, and sometimes they're trying to capture that they're of the same essence, but distinct, and sometimes they'll speak of, I think it was Augustine who spoke of the Son, S-U-N, as the Father, and the beams of light as the Son, the Son, S-O-N. But I think the scriptures give us a marvelous picture. Namely, a father-son relationship. An eternal love relationship that existed within the Godhead. That could be described as a relationship between a father and his son. Now ponder this for a moment. Especially those of you who have children. But you don't have to have children to even catch a glimpse of this. A kind of love that exists between parent and child. I think I mentioned it last week. It really is shocking what we endure from children. We do it for nobody else in the world. But God just kind of places this love in the heart of a parent for their child. And why is that? It's not like God's thinking, well, let me think of some way in which I could explain my relationship with the Word. Oh, yeah. Father-child relationship. No! God designed the parent-child, the father-child relationship as an echo after eternity in that eternal relationship that existed between the eternal Father and the eternal Son. As a relationship of love and warmth. John Flavel in his book, Life Opened says, quote, consider again the purity of that delight which the blessed father and the son embraced each other. The best of creature delights are mixed and debased and alloyed. If there is something engaging and delightful, there is also something annoying and distasteful. The purer any delight is, the more excellent it is. Now, there is no crystal streams flowing so purely from the fountain, no beams of light so unmixed from the sun as the loves and delights that these holy and glorious persons were. The holy, holy, holy Father embraced the thrice holy Son with the most holy delight. What he's saying there is that even in the most warmest endearing of human relationships, there's always a mix, right? There's always sin that somehow gets in the way and makes even those warm relationships not as warm as they could be. Not as endearing and loving as they could be. Not as affectionate as they could be because sin comes between. We lie against one another, we sin against one another, we grumble against one another. And he's saying, imagine for a moment a purely perfect relationship untainted by sin. What holy delight there must exist within God. The author of Proverbs, Solomon, may be capturing something of this when he speaks of wisdom. Chapter 8, verse 22, it says, The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his way, before his works of old. Then I was beside him as a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him." Speaking of the delight and the rejoicing between God and wisdom, which may be a reference to wisdom incarnate, or the word later to be incarnate. You may be asking at this point, well, okay, this is interesting. Jesus eternally existed with the Father in this eternal Father-Son love relationship. Was Jesus self-conscious of this when he was on the earth? Are there any other passages that highlight this? There most certainly are. Jesus would stand before the religious leaders of His day and He would say to them, before Abraham was born, I am. And we know how they understood Jesus and what He meant, because they wanted to kill Him after He said that. That's in John 8.58 and 59. Later on in Jesus' ministry, before He's about to die, when He's with His disciples in that upper room in John chapter 17, in verse 4, Jesus prays, I glorify Thee on earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory I had with You before the world ever began. He's praying, Father, glorify me with the glory I had with you before the world ever began. It's eternal relationship. And then, John 17, 23, Jesus prays later on in that same prayer. Jesus prays that I may be in them and you in me, that they may be perfected in unity so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire also that they whom you have given me be with me where I am so that they may see my glory which you have given me. For you loved me before the foundation of the world. So what was hinted at and implied in John chapter 1, Jesus most explicitly says, Father, you loved me before the world ever began, and I want these disciples, those whom you have given me, to know something of that love. It was the eternity before Christmas. Well, why are we pondering these things this morning? Because this helps us to understand something of the glory of the Incarnation. The glory of the enfleshment of the Eternal Word, the Eternal Son. Something of the cost, dare I say? I mean, this is the backdrop of that most familiar verse, John 3, verse 16. For God so loved the world that He gave His monogamates, His one and only Son. That there was some kind of cost involved in the giving of the Son. that He would love sinners so much as to give His own Son who sits on His lap in His bosom in this eternal love relationship. It also helps us to understand something of the love of the Son, that He would come into this world, dwell among sinners, be publicly humiliated, humble himself even to be being born in an animal eating trough, a manger. John Flavel again says, in this state he was not liable to any of those sorrowful consequences. Talking about his eternal state before he came into this world and was born. In this state he was not liable to any of those sorrowful consequences attendant of that frail and feeble state of humanity. as he was unacquainted with griefs, and there was no sorrowing or sighing in that bosom where he lay, though afterwards he became a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. While he lay in that bosom of peace and love, he never knew what it was to be assaulted with temptations, to be besieged by unclean spirits, that is, demons. But he endured all that. with the Incarnation, with His coming. I mean, think of your most peaceful, delightful experiences on earth. Think of in the morning when you're wrapped between the blankets and that soft cushion underneath you and it's warm and snugly in there and the prospect of going out into the cold you don't want to get up, right? you just want to stay there and the warmth and the comfort Think about the eternal Word who is wrapped in the Father's love from all eternity, never experiencing the sinfulness of man and temptation and grief and sorrow, but then being born in a manger to live among sinful men, to be despised, to be hated, to be abused, to be publicly executed. But he did that. He did that knowingly, willfully. For sinners. For rebels. we ought to like the hymn writer says, Oh, come let us adore Him. I mean, this is why Christians for thousands of years have worshipped this Jesus, this One who even during this time of year, we ponder Him coming as a little baby. I mean, who worships a baby? A baby! But you know, there's something about us being comfortable with Him as a baby. But when you begin to ponder that this baby has another nature, an eternal nature, that is eternally God, you realize indeed He is worthy of our worship. He is worthy of our all. He is worthy of a wholehearted life commitment to Him. But not in the sense that an evil dictator demands commitment But He wins our commitment through His love and the fact that He would even come to this earth, that He would die for sinners, that He would leave the comforts of that eternity and enflesh Himself in a human body. So, we behold the eternity before Christmas, but I want you also to behold the plan before Christmas. Turn over to John 6. Look at verse 35-39. The context of this, earlier on in the chapter, Jesus has just fed the multitude. It says 5,000 men were fed. It could have been upwards of 10,000-20,000 people whom Jesus creates this bread and this fish out of this five loaves and three fish. And he creates this bread and there's some who follow him after this. They follow him across the lake and Jesus knows why they're following him. They're not following him because they want to fall down on their faces and worship this guy who can create fish and bread. They want lunch. They say, this is pretty cool, we're just going to follow you around and you can just feed us every day. And Jesus then gives what's commonly called the bread of life discourse, where He likens Himself to the manna that came down from heaven. And in John 6.35, Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. Jesus is saying, I am the bread of life. I meet man's most essential need. I'm the one who quenches his spiritual thirst and fills his spiritual belly. I can meet man's greatest need to be forgiven of his sins. And to be in a right relationship with the Creator. But notice verse 36, the realistic sobering reality. But I say to you, you have seen me, yet you do not believe. You've seen me. I am the bread of life. I am able to create bread and fish out of nothing. But you don't believe. But Jesus doesn't want them to think that mission was a failure, that God sees the coming of Christ and says, boy, this was a major flop. What a waste. Nobody's believing in Him. People are just going their way, doing their own thing. And the Father's up in heaven wringing His hands. Boy, I really wish people would just believe. Jesus clarifies, verse 37. Guys, I want you to know something. You don't believe in me, but guess what? All that the Father gives me will come to me. In the one who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out. Jesus is saying, be sure of this. that there are certain ones who are donated by the Father to me and they will come to me. They will most certainly come to me and I will not cast out any one of them. They won't come to me and I'll say, oh, get out of here. No, they'll come and I'll welcome them and I will keep them and I will make sure that they will be with me forever. Verse 37, I'm sorry verse 38 for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will But to do the will of him who sent me That one whom he was sitting in the bosom of Has sent him Well, yes. Well, okay. What was the will of? that Jesus is doing of the Father who sent Him. What was the plan? What was the mission? What's the point? What's the point of Christmas? Verse 39, this is the will of Him who sent me, that of all that He has given me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. Here Jesus takes us to the window of eternity past and helps us to see that His coming was a plan that was set in motion when He came, but was planned from eternity past between the Father and the Son, where the Father gives a people to the Son, and the Son comes to this earth to ensure the salvation and deliverance of that people so that they will be raised up on the last day. This is the plan. How do we know this took place in eternity past? Well, because we have other verses in the Bible that tell us that that's when it took place. For instance, 2nd Timothy chapter 1 verse 9. It says, speaking of the God who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity. Or another, perhaps more familiar verse in Ephesians 1, 4, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. So that when we look back in eternity, not only before the birth of Christ, but before Abraham, before Adam, we see this eternal agreement within the Godhead that would eventually bring Jesus to this earth, this eternal plan and purpose that took place to save a people whom the Father gives to the Son and the Son dies for them. He said, that's deep. I told you. I warned you. John Flavo again, that 17th century writer. He speculates as to what something of this eternal conversation might have sounded like. And I've updated the language a little bit so that we can understand it better. He imagines the sun. I'm sorry, the father. The father saying, my son, here's a group of poor, miserable souls that have utterly undone themselves and now lie open to my justice. Justice demands satisfaction for them or will satisfy itself in the eternal ruin of them. What shall be done for these souls? The son responds, oh, my father, such as my love to and my pity for them, that rather than they should perish eternally, I will be responsible for them. I will be their advocate, bring in all their bills that I may see what they owe you. Lord, bring them all in that there may be no outstanding debts with them. At my hand, you shall require it. I will rather choose to suffer your wrath than that they should suffer it. Upon me, my father, upon me be all their debt to sin." The father responds, but my son, if you undertake for them You must pay every last cent. Expect no pardon from me. If I spare them, I will not spare you. The son says, I agree, father. I agree to the terms. I am willing. Let it be so. Charge it all upon me. I am able to discharge it, and though it prove a kind of undoing of me, though it cost me dearly, yet I am willing to undertake it. Then Flavel exhorts, Blush, ungrateful sinners. Oh, let shame cover your faces. Judge in yourselves now. Has Christ deserved that you should stand with Him for trifles? That you should shrink at a few petty difficulties and complain that this is hard, that this is so harsh? Sit and wonder. that you would be amongst those donated by the Father to the Son, and the Son would come on a mission to be born in a manger that would ultimately lead to His crucifixion and resurrection. We say, that doesn't sound fair. I mean, why didn't He do that for everybody? My friend, if it's fairness you want, fairness would be you spending an eternity in hell. That would be justice. But God, in His mercy, in the eternity past, exacted a plan for the salvation of sinners. Does your heart swell up in gratitude towards this God? The question is not why, not them. The question is, why me? Because each of us know in our heart of hearts what we really deserve. And it's not grace, because grace by its very nature cannot be deserved. It's a gift. So be humbled by this reality. So first of all, behold the eternity before Christmas. Behold the plan before Christmas. But now, be sure that you are part of the purpose of Christmas. Because you may look at this and think, well, okay, this was settled in eternity past. There's some who are given by the Father to the Son, And it's a done deal. And you're right. It is a done deal. But the fact is, we don't know who those given ones are. We don't know. Nobody has a giant G stamped on their forehead. I'm given by the Father to the Son. But notice the passage. the middle of the sandwich as Jesus talks about this mission and He assures that all those given by the Father will come to Him and will be raised up on the last day. Notice in verse 35 again, Jesus gives this invitation. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger and he who believes in me will never thirst. It's a promise. It's an open promise that if you believe, you will not hunger. And if you come to him, you will not thirst. And he guarantees notice in verse 37. Excuse me. Verse 37 says, all that the Father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out. So you can't say, well, this stinks, I'm not given. No, Jesus's word to you is come and come and then you'll know that you have been given. And if you come, it's not like Jesus is going to stand and say, nope, you haven't been given. You don't have the G on your forehead. No, because he will not cast out anybody who comes to him. And then it will be realized, indeed, there's a G there. You've been given. Because nobody can come to him apart from his eternal grace. And so and then not only that, notice in verse 38. He says, for I've come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent me that all that he has given me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. But then notice. This next verse, this next verse. In verse 40, he says, for this is the will of my father. that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life and I will raise Him up on the last day. You still have to believe. You're still responsible to believe. You still must believe. You still must come to Him. And so, my friend, if you're sitting here this morning, feeling the weight of your own guilt, Go to Him. Believe in Him. And trust your soul, your life, your all to Him. Trust that He is your only hope to get you to eternity, to be raised up on the last day, to have this eternal relationship with the triune God. Come to Him. He won't drive you away. He won't cast you out. Oh yes, you must come to Him for the right reasons. There's people earlier in the chapter who were following Jesus. A meal. They want a meal ticket. If you come to Jesus to get a full belly, you're not coming to Him for the right reasons. You need to come to Him weighed down by the guilt of your own sin, and to come to Him for the reason why He came. For sinners to be forgiven, to be reconciled to a holy God. If you come to Him on His terms for the right reasons, He will not cast you out. You may think, well, Matt, I'm too sinful to come to Him. You don't know what I've done. You don't know what's in my life. You don't know my track record. You're right, I don't know. But I do know statements that Jesus has said, like in Luke 17, verse 10, For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. Do you feel lost this morning? Do you feel aimlessly wandering in life? No purpose, no eternal destiny fixed in heaven. Jesus came for people like you. Do you feel like a sinner this morning? Do you feel rotten? Do you feel dirty? The Apostle Paul, who before he became a Christian, killed Christians, or at least had a hand in their persecution and endorsed their execution. He said in 1 Timothy, here's a great statement. Here's a trustworthy statement, a statement which you can bet your life on. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am chief. So my friend, being too much of a sinner may just be a kind of thin veneer of piousness. that is actually pride. Lay it aside and come to Him. You may also think, well, how could I come to Him? I mean, everything I start in life, I don't finish. I mean, I can barely even keep a job more than a couple of months. Well, notice what Jesus promises here. Again, in verse 37, look at the passage. He says, "...all that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out, for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of Him who sent me. This is the will of Him who sent me, that all that He has given me..." How many does he lose? I lose nothing. So if you come to Him on His terms, humbled, repentant over your sin, trusting in Him as your only hope, you're coming to Him for the right reasons. He says, I won't lose you. You see, if you could lose yourself, you would be lost. But if you come to Him, and His omnipotent arms are mighty to save, And He will guarantee your eternity. You see, Jesus, as He was hanging on the cross later on in the Gospel of John, I think it's in John 19, 30 or 31, He cries out, It is finished. Mission accomplished. The sins of sinners are paid for in totality. And if you are united to Him, it's all paid for. So, go to Him. Don't delay. And also, if you've gone to Him, oh, how your heart ought to be thankful. Oh, how your heart ought to be thankful. To swell up in gratitude. Little baby in a manger did not stay a baby. And there was intentionality in that birth. Intentionality that's not just coming and going like marketing trends, but something that's anchored in eternity itself with an unchanging God. God would have to renege on His eternal contract with the Son for you to be damned. He'd have to take that, if I could put it reverently, that eternal document and say, just shred it into pieces and to lie. But this God is no liar. He is holy. He speaks the truth. He always speaks the truth. So we've seen, behold the eternity before Christmas. Behold the plan before Christmas. Be sure you're part of the plan for Christmas. But also beware of the divisive part of Christmas. Turn over to John chapter 14. John chapter 14. This is during that upper room discourse, Jesus on the eve of His execution. He's about to die, to be raised from the dead three days later. And in John chapter 14, let me begin reading in verse 1. He says, Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in Me. In my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would not have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also." See, Jesus has been telling him, He's going to go, He's going to go. Yes, He's going to send His Holy Spirit, but He's going to go. And when he goes, he's going to prepare a place and he's going to come back. And when he comes back, he's going to receive his disciples unto himself. Notice verse 4. Jesus says, and you know the way where I'm going. Thomas, you just kind of see him scratching his head. Lord, we do not know where you are going. How do we know the way? Jesus, we don't know where you're going. You've got to give us at least an address and a GPS so we know where you're at. We'll pin you and then we'll know how to get there. Verse 6, Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. Jesus says to Thomas, Thomas, I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the only way to heaven. I'm the truth. I'm truth incarnate. I, as God and the one who has come from God and speaks on behalf of God, speak in absolute truth. I'm the life. I'm the way to eternal life. And just in case you don't get it, Thomas, nobody, a universal negative, nobody comes to the Father except through me. That's a very tough pill to swallow in 2013. Many choke on it. But yet, These are the words of Jesus. This is not something that's invented by angry people. This is something that Jesus has said and Christians have believed it for thousands of years. That there actually is no other plan. There is no other way. He is the only way. Jesus speaks in absolute, certain terms. In fact, earlier on in Jesus' ministry, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, narrow is the way. It's narrow. And there's few on that road. Now, you may think at this point, well, it sounds so harsh. Couldn't God have designed multiple ways to get to heaven? Multiple ways, multiple plans, multiple roads? I'd imagine he could have if he wanted to in some sense. But think about what you're saying. This God who has endured rebellion of sinners for thousands of years has wonderfully and gloriously exacted a plan from eternity past that would mean the entrance of himself, in a sense, in the person of his son into this world clothes inhumanity to endure ill treatment from sinners To be publicly humiliated and even publicly executed? And to bear the full wrath and justice of the Father on the cross? And to die and then to be re-risen from the dead? He did all of that? Could you dare stand Him and lock eyes with the eternal deity on the day of judgment and say, God, you did not do enough? God, what you did was not adequate. You should have made more ways. When He, in this eternal love relationship with the Son, gave His Son, I'll simply use the words that scripture would use. Damn you. Damn you to say that. To think that. Eternal damnation for you. Yes, I understand these are hard words. And our coexist religious pluralism But these are the plain words of scriptures that Christians have believed for thousands of years. Now you may think, well, it seems so arrogant to seem so sure. And you may think, well, nobody can be sure about anything. I would just simply ask you, are you sure about that? You see, you can't be certain about uncertainty, or else you're certain, and there is certainty. Jesus speaks in absolute terms here, in certain terms. And so we need to understand and believe that there actually is no other way. In God's kindness, you're sitting here this morning. and His overtures of grace go out to you, that you can be forgiven of your sins. You can find that way in the Lord Jesus if you trust in Him. I'm going to close with an illustration. In many ways, this illustration is so inadequate, but it captures two truths that I want us to take with us. You've probably heard it before. I don't know the exact veracity of the story. It was heard first by me by D. James Kennedy. But it's the story of a man who lived during the time of the Great Depression. His name was John Griffith. And he was forced with his family when the economy collapsed to move to Oklahoma. And he was delighted to find a job with the railroad company. And part of this job with the railroad company way back in the 1930s consisted of him working a drawbridge. And when ships would be coming along, he'd have to raise the drawbridge, keep it open for the ships, and he had to know the exact timing of the trains that were coming along so that he could make sure the drawbridge is down so that the trains can come over the bridge. It was one particular afternoon that John brought his son, Greg, to work with him. He brought his son, Greg, to work with him and they were sitting there eating lunch. His father, John, was explaining all his work at the railroad. The importance of the drawbridge and all that takes place with that, all of his responsibilities. And then they began talking about stories from years prior, fun times they've had together. All of a sudden, John hears the train whistle blowing. And in a panic, he realizes at 12 noon, the Memphis Express is coming through with 400 passengers on it. And he realizes he forgot to put the drawbridge down. And in a panic he runs to the gear room and he sees the train barreling down the train tracks and coming for the bridge and the bridge is still up. He realizes he needs to pull the gears and make sure that bridge comes down as quick as possible so that those 400 people on that train do not die. And as he gets to the gear room, in that panic, he looks over towards the train, he sees out of the corner of his eye, his son, who's stuck in the gears of the drawbridge. And he realizes that if he lets the drawbridge come down, it's going to crush his own son. But he's also looking at those 400 people coming in that train towards that drawbridge. He realizes he must do what is almost unthinkable. His son is stuck in those gears and unable to get out and he doesn't have the time to rescue him. He pulls the lever of the drawbridge with his head down and the son is crushed and those 400 people go safely across the bridge. As inadequate as that story is, with the eternal purpose of God, in the voluntary sacrifice of Christ who wasn't stuck, it highlights that eternal relationship between the Father and Son. and something of the cost of the sending of the Son. And it also highlights that that is the only plan. That is the only way. May God give us hearts of faith to believe that truth. In Jesus' name, let's pray. Lord God, these are weighty things we pondered this morning. heavy things. Perhaps things we've never even thought of. Perhaps many things that pastors and other church leaders have hid from us. But Lord, we want to let your word shine in all of its clarity and appear into even eternity as you allow us to just but for a glimpse that we might adore you and worship you as you are worthy.