Preparing this week that I would get through verses 14 through 18. I'm only going to get through verses 14 and 15 because I just could not get past Jesus being the only begotten Son of God and focusing upon that together. We're going to be looking at verses 14 and 15. Let's begin our reading in verse 1. Hear the word of the Lord. 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. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which, coming into the world, gives light to 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 did not receive him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John is bearing witness of him and has cried out saying, this was he of whom I said, he who comes after me is preferred before me for he was before me. Let's pray. Our Father, pour out your Holy Spirit so that you will exalt your Son. And we ask this in your Son Jesus' name. Amen. A few years ago, I was riding my bike, getting some exercise down the Silver Comet Trail. I was on my way back home, and as I came back home, I passed by one of the stations on the side, and there were two Jehovah's Witnesses sitting on a park bench with a makeshift bookshelf sitting there that had their Watchtower magazine and a bunch of literature to basically proselytize people and to win them to their pseudo-Christian cult. So I hit my brakes and turned around and sat down on the bench across from the sidewalk, trying to catch their eye. And when I finally caught their eye, I asked them, I said, are you Jehovah's Witnesses? And they said, yes, we are. And I said, may I ask you a question? They said, well, of course. The two ladies were very pleasant women to talk to. And I asked them the question, what must I do to be saved? This threw them for a loop. They weren't expecting that question. I knew it would throw them for a loop, that's why I asked them. One of the women looked at me and with a puzzled look on her face said, well, what is it that you need to be saved from? And I said to her, I was hoping that you could tell me. And she puzzled for a little bit more and finally she said, you need to be saved from hell? And she asked it like a question more than a statement. And I says, yes, what must I do to be saved from hell? Again, she paused and wrestled with the question. And of course, I'm sure you picked up. I wasn't asking the question to mock them. I was trying to get her to think about her own eternal destiny. Finally, she gave me this answer. Listen to what she said. You must believe in Jesus Christ. Again, she said it like a question. But that is the right answer, isn't it? You must believe in Jesus Christ if you would be saved. And I said, very good, I must believe on Jesus Christ. And then I asked her another question, who then is Jesus? She said, well, Jesus is the son of God. I said, yes, that's right. I said, but is he also God the son? And she said, no, he's not God the Son. You see, she had been steeped and trained by the Jehovah's Witnesses. She said, that's the whole doctrine of the Trinity. And I looked at her and said, you're exactly right. That is the doctrine of the Trinity. That's exactly what it is. And then I challenged her. I said, if you say that Jesus is not God himself, then please explain something to me. Why is it that Jesus is worshipped by men all throughout the Gospels and in the book of the Revelation, but not one time do you see him rebuking the people who bowed down and worshipped him? I said, if Jesus Christ is not Almighty God, and he did not rebuke them and let them go on with their worship of him, then he is guilty of blasphemy. He's guilty of allowing these men to commit adultery, or idolatry, excuse me, if he did not rebuke them for worshiping him. The last of our conversation, this woman was looking up in her Bible places where Jesus receives worship and reading them out loud. I don't know what became of those women. But my hope is that seeds were planted in their hearts to challenge them to think about who Jesus is. Now, why have I told you that story? Think about it. When I asked two women who belong to a heretical cult, what must I do to be saved? Their answer was believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Is that the right answer? It is the right answer. That's exactly the answer that Paul and Silas gave to the Philippian jailer when he asked the same question. And yet, even though these women told me to put my faith in Jesus Christ, the Jesus Christ they wanted me to put my faith in is not the Jesus of the Bible. And if sinners are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, and they are, Your faith cannot save you if you put your faith in the wrong Jesus. What have we been seeing through the gospel of John? That John is seeking to take us by the hand to answer a question. He wants us to be fully persuaded about who Jesus Christ is. That is his purpose here. And he couldn't be clearer than he has been. He's shown us just in 14 verses that Jesus is God himself in the form of a man. But if you're asking the question, who do you say that Jesus Christ is? Finding the right answer to that question is much harder 2,000 years later than it was 2,000 years ago in some ways. Why? Because so many false prophets and so many false messiahs have arisen since that time. So many heretics, so many false teachers are constantly trying to get the church to deny the true Christ and in its place to grab a hold of a substitute Christ. As a matter of fact, Satan is constantly wanting us to get who Jesus is wrong. And he's constantly attacking the church to get to it. when Jesus taught His Olivet Discourse, the same week that He was crucified. In April of 30 AD, He foretold the coming destruction of Jerusalem, which would take place four decades later in 70 AD. And one of the things He warned His disciples about was in that short, brief time, there would be false messiahs who would rise up. He said this in Matthew 24, false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand." You almost get the impression that when the disciples were standing on the Mount of Olives and watched Jesus ascend, that before they were able to make it back to their homes, already these false Christs were being proclaimed. And the New Testament itself bears this out. Paul spoke to the church at Corinth that he had planted on the mission field. This is just some 20 years after Jesus had ascended. And he said, if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it. He saw the possibility even then. The apostle John, the author of the gospel that we are currently studying, he encountered the same thing. He had to correct a number of heresies. And all throughout the last 2,000 years, the devil has been setting forth a false Christ before the church and before the world. Some, like the ancient Gnostics and the Docetists, affirm that Jesus is Almighty God. Now, do you hear that? In contradiction to the Jehovah's Witnesses, they said, yes, Jesus is Almighty God, but they denied that He was human. They denied that He had a physical body, and this is one of the things that John had to deal with. But then the pendulum swung the other way when the church stood up and affirmed, Jesus is a man. Then the church was saying, or there were men within the church saying, Jesus is a man, but He's not God. Men like Arius rose up and the Arians followed after him and denying that Jesus is Almighty God. Jehovah's Witnesses are modern Arians. And the churches had to respond to these heresies to take what was being taught and compare it with the scriptures to contend for the faith, once for all, delivered to the saints. And what they came up with is they apprehended the truth. that the one true and living God has a triune nature, that He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and He exists as three distinct persons, but He's only one God. And that doctrine is necessary to apprehending who Jesus is because there's no other way to embrace him as both God and man and to believe in this way. And as the church has wrestled with this for the past two millennia, it's found a great deal of help in John's gospel. But brothers and sisters, something I hope you understand this morning. I hope this is clear. These are not issues that are just debated by ivory tower academians. that a bunch of eggheaded theologians debate about this stuff, but it has no relevance to you. Absolutely, it is relevant to you. It has everything to do with you. It makes the difference between true and pure worship of God versus idolatry. It's the difference between obedience to God versus blasphemy of God. And it's the difference between heaven and hell. And furthermore, it has everything to do with world missions. Because when we send missionaries to the mission field, which God are they going to proclaim on the mission field? And which God are those they're trying to reach going to worship? This is of great practical importance. Satan is constantly attacking these doctrines. As a matter of fact, I'm going to tell you, last night and this morning, I felt oppression in my soul because of what I knew I was about to preach, and the resistance of the enemy to these things. So may the Spirit of God give us free course this morning to proclaim these things clearly. Well, when we look at verses 14 and 15, John introduces a new phrase, not new to the scriptures, but perhaps new to us in some ways. He calls Jesus the only begotten Son of God. He introduces that phrase, and it's a phrase that's a favorite with him that he repeats over and over again throughout his gospel. As a matter of fact, John 3.16 says, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And it has everything to do with the fact that Jesus is the second person of the Godhead. But what he does in verses 14 and 15 is he cites two human witnesses who attest to the fact that he is the only begotten son of God. is John himself, John the Apostle. But then the second one in verse 15 is John the Baptist. Accordingly, my two headings this morning are going to be this. First, the witness of John the Apostle. And second, the witness of John the Baptist. First of all, the witness of John the Apostle. Now, is it not true that in verses 1 through 14, John has already blown our minds repeatedly? He speaks about this person called the Word, the Word of God. was with God at the very beginning when He created all things, but not only was He with God, He was God. When God created the heavens, the earth, the seas, and all that they contain, He created all of it through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing that exists was created apart from Christ. To use the language of Paul in the book of Colossians, all things were created through Christ, all things were created for Christ. But then, if our minds were not blown enough, verse 14, he says, "...and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." The Creator became a creature. God became a man. Jesus is God in human flesh. And he tabernacled among us. He pitched his tent among us. He is Emmanuel, God with us. And John tells us, we beheld his glory. And a couple of weeks ago, we examined what that meant. What did it mean that he saw his glory? To all outward appearances, Jesus was a plain, ordinary man, not particularly handsome. You could walk past him on the sidewalk and not even notice that you had passed by him because he didn't excite attention in that way. He looked like, to all outward appearances, and even the Jewish leaders thought this, that he was nobody from nowhere. And yet when he spoke, his words were full of grace. They were full of life. They were full of power and authority unlike anyone else they'd ever heard teach before. And his works were astonishing. Whenever Jesus met a deaf person, they went away hearing. When he encountered a mute person, they went away speaking. And when he encountered dead corpses, they walked away living. He reanimated corpses and raised the dead to new life. So he did extraordinary works, and all these things, John says, revealed his glory, that all was not as it seemed. That there was more to this man than it seemed on outward appearance. But the single most glorious thing about Jesus was, ironically, the single greatest act of humiliation that has ever taken place in all of history. His glory is shown most particularly by His death upon the cross, by His being obedient unto death. He prayed on the night He was betrayed, The hour has come, O Father, glorify me. That is, glorify me by lifting me between heaven and earth, by impelling me to a cross. What did Jesus say, another part of John? He says, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men to myself. And the Bible says he was talking about the manner of his death. He's exalted by being lifted up upon a cross. But then notice that John says, the glory that he saw peeking through, as it were, shining through the veil of his flesh, which was hidden from the world, but which John saw by faith, it was the glory as the only begotten of the Father. It specifically pointed him to something about Jesus that he was the only begotten of the Father. And as I already mentioned, this is the first time we encounter this phrase in John's gospel, but it's not the last. But here's the question. Where did he get it? He got it from the Old Testament. Does anyone know where? Psalm chapter two. Turn back with me to Psalm two. David is prophesying about the coming Messiah in Psalm chapter two, whom both the Jews and the Gentiles would conspire to kill. Pontius Pilate and Herod conspired together to crucify Christ. So notice verse one, why did the nations rage? and the people plot a vain thing. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Messiah saying, let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us. We don't like being under God's authority. We don't like obeying his law. So we're gonna do our own thing and we're gonna cast off his reign over us. Now, is God in heaven perplexed and alarmed that men are gonna try to throw off his rule? Of course not. Look at verse 4. He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall hold them in derision. Really? You think you can throw off the Almighty God? You think you can dethrone Him? You can't. It says, Then He shall speak to them in His wrath and distress them in His deep displeasure. Verse 6, Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion. You want to throw off My rule? I'm going to establish My King and you can't dethrone Him. That's what I'm going to do. But who is this king? He begins to identify him in verses 7 and 9. And the thing that's interesting about 7, 8, and 9 is if our red-letter Bibles were consistent, these verses would be in red. Because this is the king now speaking to us from the page, as it were, to tell us something. He says this, I will declare the decree. In other words, this is Jesus speaking from Psalm 2. I will declare the decree. The Lord has said to me, notice it, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I'll give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. In other words, the kings of the nations do not want to submit to the rule of God. But I've given you, the Father has given to the Son the rule of the nations. They are your inheritance. We're praying, does God want to send one of our own to Dominica? Well, here's the thing about Dominica, whoever the Lord sends there, Dominica is the inheritance of Jesus Christ. It is His possession. Those 73,000 souls, they belong to Him. They're His. And so we're saying to the Lord, Lord, take a hold of Your inheritance and save many, many sinners in Dominica. And the same is true of every nation. Our nation has been given by the Father to the Son. And so, verse 7, you are my son, today I have begotten you. That's where John pulls this language of Jesus being the only begotten son. And he's also telling us that Jesus is the fulfillment of this particular psalm. The psalm ends with a warning. David warning all the kings and all the judges of the earth to bow down and kiss the feet of the only begotten son. to that is to submit yourself to his authority. Verse 10, now therefore be wise, O kings, be instructed, you Supreme Court justices of the earth, you presidents, you popes, all around, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the sun, it means bow down and kiss his feet. Kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are those who put their trust in him. But you see what John is saying. He's saying this son of God who is the king of all the nations and the judge of all the earth is none other than Jesus Christ. We'll come back then to John chapter one. And I want you to follow me very, very carefully, because what I'm going to explain to you next is something indescribable. And frankly, it's something incomprehensible, something you can understand. And make no mistake, I don't understand it either, even as I preach it to you. But it's God's own truth, and while we can't comprehend it, we can apprehend it by faith. In fact, it is vital for your never-dying soul that you do believe it, because it is set forth in Scripture. When we speak of the only begotten Son of God, this is what theologians call the eternal generation of the Son. The eternal generation of the Son. It testifies to the fact that Jesus is the second person of the Godhead and that he is of the same essence as the Father and the Spirit. Now let's unpack that a little bit. William Henderson says it this way, the reference is to Christ's Trinitarian sonship to the fact that he is the Son of God. And a theologian by the name of Herman Boving says it this way, he is the Son of God by nature and from eternity. Now, just last week, Pastor Matt preached to us, and he preached to us about our adoption as sons. And do you remember the distinction he made? He says, we need to understand that our sonship to God is different than Christ's sonship. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, the Bible says you're a son of God. But you are a son of God contrary to nature. but by grace. You are his son by adoption. But Jesus is not the son of God by adoption. He is the only begotten son. He is God's son by his very nature, and there's never been a time when Jesus was not the son, and there's never been a time when the father wasn't the father. They have been for all eternity the father, the son, and the spirit. So let me clarify what we mean when we say that the one true and living God exists as three distinct persons. Now, can you comprehend that? Can you understand it? You can't. It's impossible. As a matter of fact, we speak of God and say one of his attributes is he's incomprehensible. Do you know when the church began saying that? when they began wrestling with the Trinity. They said, we can't understand this, but we believe it. Now, here's the thing. How many of you can understand the fact that God became a man in Jesus? You can't. It's incomprehensible, but do you believe it? You believe it by faith because it's what the Bible teaches, even so with the Trinity. But brothers and sisters, listen, if you don't believe this about God, you cannot be saved. That's how important it is, okay? Outside of the Bible, I believe the greatest statement on the Trinity is found in the Athanasian Creed. And the Athanasian Creed says this in paragraphs three and four, listen to it carefully. We worship one God in Trinity, And Trinity in unity, listen carefully, neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance. Now, the authors of the Athanasian Creed aren't trying to explain the Trinity. As I've already said, they can't do that. What they're doing is they're fencing the mystery of the Trinity. They're giving us two guardrails to protect us from driving off a cliff into heresy and idolatry and error. And they're putting us two boundaries here. What are those two boundaries? You must not confound the persons. Second, you must not divide the substance. Now you're smart, listen to me carefully, all right? First of all, you must not confound, that means or confuse the persons. In other words, God the Father is not God the Son and he's not God the Holy Spirit. And God the Son is neither the Father nor the Spirit. And the Spirit is not the Father nor the Son. The three persons are distinct from one another. And this one God is not someone who just reveals himself in three different forms. The way that water can be ice and steam and liquid. That's known as modalism. It's an ancient heresy. That's modalism, Patrick, for those of you who are familiar with all this, right? Modalism denies the distinctions between the persons of the Godhead. But the fact that the persons are distinct is made evident as we read the scriptures. John 1, 1 and 2. In the beginning was the word, listen to it, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. So the son and the father are two distinct persons. And yet the son is not less than God, he is God. Or how about this, John 10, verse 30, Jesus said, I and my father are one. And when he said that, the Jews took up stones to stone him to death. Why? Because they understood that he was making himself to be equal with God. But listen to this, I read something just two days ago about this. I and my father are one. When he says we're one, he means we have the same nature. We share the same essence. We're the one God. But he says we are. One. He doesn't say my Father and I is one, are one. Are is a plural verb. In other words, two persons, one God, right? Or how about this? Did God the Father die for you? No. Did God the Holy Spirit die for you? No. Did God the Son die for you? Yes. The distinction of the persons. So don't confuse the persons. The heresy of modalism is still with us today. How many of you have ever heard of T.D. Jakes? T.D. Jakes is a modalist. He's a part of what's known as oneness Pentecostalism. Oneness Pentecostalism is just a modern form of modalism. T.D. Jakes is a heretic. He's a false prophet, a false teacher, and so are all the people associated with him. He's not teaching the God of the Bible. So this is not something that just died out 2,000 years ago. It's something that's still around with us today. Now, are you all with me so far? You following me, what I'm saying here? The distinction of the persons, we must not confuse the persons. Second guardrail then is this, you must not divide the substance of the one God. That means the three persons do not have three separate natures, nor do they have three perfectly identical natures, nor Do the three persons share one third of the divine nature of God? Like a cherry pie that's cut into three equal pieces? That's a bad analogy, Patrick. That's not what it is. That's something known as partialism, another heresy. No, because there is only one God, each of the three persons has the entirety of the one indivisible nature of God. Our confession says it this way. In this divine and infinite being, there are three subsistences, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided. In other words, God exists as three distinct persons, but He does not have three distinct natures. He has only one nature. You see, the three distinct persons are not three distinct gods. He's one God. God does not have three distinct wills. He has one will because he has one nature. All three persons of the Godhead have exactly the same perfections because they're all the same perfections, because they have the same nature. Scott Swain says it this way, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are not parts of the one God. Each person is the one God in all his fullness. The Father is the one God in all His fullness. The Son is the one God in all His fullness. The Spirit is the one God in all His fullness. Now, do any of you understand that? No. But are you tracking with me? Are you apprehending what I'm telling you? Okay, there is only one God who exists in three distinct persons. Now, follow me one more step. What is it that distinguishes the persons of the Godhead from one another? There are different persons, so what is it that makes the distinction? There's two things. One of these things is inward, and one of these things is outward. We call the inward part the divine processions. The outward part is the divine missions. Okay, now you're more familiar with this than you might think, but follow me. When we speak of the divine processions, that is what John is referring to when he calls Jesus the only begotten Son of God. Again, the Athanasian Creed says it this way. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone, not made nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son, neither made nor created nor begotten, but proceeding. And hear how our Baptist forefathers incorporated this into their own confession. They're borrowing the language unashamedly of the Athanasian Creed. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father. The Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son. All-infinite, without beginning, therefore but one God, who is not to be divided in nature and being, but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties and personal relations." So let's put it all together, the missions and the processions together. The Father who begot the Son from all eternity also sent the Son into this world. There's the mission. The Son, who is eternally begotten of the Father, was sent into this world by Him. And the Holy Spirit, who eternally proceeds from both the Father and the Son, has been sent here by the Father in the name of the Son. So, processions and missions. Again, the point is, there was never a time in all eternity when the Father was not the Father. There was never a time in all eternity when the Son was not the Son. And there never was a time in all eternity when the Spirit did not proceed from Father and Son. Now, you're more familiar with the concept of the divine processions and missions than you realize. What is the most famous verse in all the scripture in all the world? John 3.16, if you watch football, somebody somewhere in the audience is gonna be holding up John 3.16 on a poster somewhere in the end zone. What is the language of John 3.16? For God so loved the world, and this is God the Father so loved the world, that he gave, he sent, that's the mission, and whom did he send? His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but believe on him, but have eternal life. Now, I understand that what I've just said to you is complicated, and it's incomprehensible, but is it what the Bible teaches? Yes. And do you believe it because it is what the Bible teaches? Because this is the only way we can explain or expound that Jesus is both God and man. Get away, do away with the Trinity and you no longer have the Jesus of the Bible because Jesus is both God and man. So to summarize it this way, there's only one God who has one indivisible nature, but this one God exists as three distinct persons who each share the entirety of the one undivided essence of God. That means that the Father is worthy of your worship, and the Son is equally worthy of your worship, and the Holy Spirit is equally worthy of your worship. And I want to apply this right now. You ready? Sing the doxology with me. ♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ Praise him all creatures here below ♪ Praise him above ye heavenly hosts Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. Does it matter? Yes, it matters. It matters which God you worship. and which God you believe in. So this is the witness of John the Apostle. We beheld his glory, a specific kind of glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And that leads us to the witness of John the Baptist. Verse 15, the Apostle quotes John the Baptist. And he says, basically he's letting us see that John the Baptist says amen to what John the Apostle just said. And I want you to notice something here because what he's telling us, first of all, from the mouth of two or three witnesses, let everything be established. So he's saying there's more than one witness saying Jesus is the only begotten son of God. Let's hear again from John the Baptist, verse 15. John is bearing witness of him and has cried out saying, this was he of whom I said, He who comes after me is preferred before me for he was before me." Now, you may have noticed I changed the verb tenses in the way I read that verse from the way it's translated in the New King James. The reason I changed the tenses was because I was trying to help reflect more of what the original Greek says here because literally The Greek uses the present tense to say John is bearing witness. Now, John the Baptist has been dead for something like 2,000 years now. And yet, the Bible's using this language of him as if he's presently speaking. This is known in scripture as the historic present tense. What the author's trying to do is he wants you to be there, as it were, to hear for yourself what's being said in the moment, so to speak. But then he says he has cried out That that word is a perfect tense verb and you're like, okay, we're getting a Greek lesson this morning But here's the thing a perfect tense verb is something that happened in the past that has an ongoing present result And here's what I'm trying to get at John had been dead for many decades when John the Apostle wrote these words but what he's saying is though he is dead and John the Baptist still speaks. And his testimony about who Jesus is is just as relevant in the year 2025 as it was in the year 26 AD or 27 AD or whenever it was that he spoke these words. It has lost none of its power, it's lost none of its truth, what he testified you need to believe here 2,000 years later. That's the point. And what is it that he says? It's amazing. He who comes after me is preferred before me, for he was before me." Now, that's an amazing statement for two reasons. Number one, it's a statement of humility. He is greater than I am. Think of the fame that John the Baptist enjoyed. The multitudes held him as a prophet. They thronged to hear him. Here's the last and the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, and yet he's saying, look at Jesus. He's better than I am. He's greater than I am. As a matter of fact, we're gonna find some of his disciples are gonna stop following John and they're gonna follow Jesus. And you know, if it was me, I'd get all jealous. They listen to more of his sermon audio sermons than mine. And yet John rejoices. That's why I came. So that people would follow him. John understood that the Spirit of God did not endow him with gifts and call him to be a prophet so that he could exalt himself and promote himself. Instead, he was given those gifts so he could promote Christ and glorify Him. Why has God called men into the ministry today? Why does He give preaching gifts to men? So we can exalt ourselves? No. So you can go away and say, wow, Jerry's a great preacher. Well, that's not going to profit your soul at all. But if you go away and say, Jesus is a great savior, that's what's important. Let you forget my name. You can forget my name. It's no consequence. But forget who Christ is, and you're lost for eternity. So here is John exalting Christ. But secondly, the statement is amazing. Because when you compare scripture with scripture, and you look at John's birth in Luke chapter one, you discover something. John the Baptist was actually Jesus's cousin. And furthermore, he was six months older than Jesus was. You ever notice that? Because Elizabeth was six months pregnant when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and said, this is the six month for your cousin, Elizabeth. She goes and sees him. She visits her cousin. She's pregnant with Christ. Nine months later, she's going to give birth. But six months before Christ is born, John is born. And yet, did you hear what John said? He who was before me. This man who's six months younger than I am was before me. What's he saying? He's saying, though he's a man and was born six months after I was, he existed before I was born. In fact, he existed before all of creation because he is the only begotten Son of God. What John the Baptist is saying is the same thing that Micah 5, verse 2 says. It says, but you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel." Everybody knew this and knew that this was about the Messiah, right? The birth of the Messiah is going to be born in Bethlehem. But then listen to what Micah says next. whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting. The one who's going to be born in Bethlehem, his goings forth are from old, because though he's the son of man, he is also the eternally begotten Son of God. The point is, two witnesses are testifying to this truth, that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. Now let me make two applications. First, believing disciples of Jesus Christ, my brothers and sisters, Beware of false Christs and of false Gospels. Beware of false Christs and of false Gospels. I know that I've given you a lot to chew on today. You've probably felt, as I've preached, like you're drinking water from a fire hose. I get that. That being said, what I am preaching to you is so very important, and I'm preaching to protect your souls. Just a few months ago, I was reading through Luke's gospel, my devotions, and how many ever hundreds of times I've read Luke, when I came to a specific incident that really struck me. And it was when Jesus was in the synagogue and he's preaching, and you remember it, suddenly a man stands up and begins screaming at him, and he is a demon-possessed man. And Jesus, of course, casts out the demon. But what hit me when I read it was, wait a minute, what's a demon doing in a synagogue? Because what's a synagogue? It's a place where the scriptures are read. It's a place where the scriptures are preached. It's a place where the Psalms are sung and God is worshiped. It's a place where we read of the Holy Spirit moving through Christ and through his apostles and preaching in that place. Why in the world is a demon there? We need to stop and think about that. That of all places to hang out, you know, when we think of demons, we think about them hanging out in the Capitol building. Maybe when you look back at some past presidents, you think the devil's a permanent resident in the Oval Office being a personal counselor to the president. And when you look back at some of our presidents, I don't know you can dispute that. But the devil is in the university. And he's taking these other young minds and corrupting them. And all those things are true. But do you know that the devil's favorite hangout is the local church? Particularly churches where God's truth is being proclaimed with clarity. That's where the devil hangs out. Because see, contrary to popular opinion, the devil doesn't have horns and a pitchfork. He doesn't have goat's legs for feet and a goofy looking tail and, you know, be all scarlet red looking. The devil appears as an angel of light. If you beheld him, he would appear beautiful. He would sound so true. Remember when he tempted Jesus, what did he use? He didn't use the Quran or something to tempt him. He used the Bible and twisted it to try to make it sound reasonable. I heard a man say in the summer of 1991, whenever the Holy Spirit's at work, unholy spirits are never far behind. It's become a regular maxim in our faithful men's school. That whenever the Holy Spirit's working, unholy spirits are never far behind. When the word of God is preached and taught, week in and week out in this congregation, Berean Baptist Church of Powder Springs, Georgia, demons are on the outer periphery, stalking your souls. They're waiting to snatch the seed that's being planted and to snatch it up from your hearts. They are roaming around. There's so doubt in your heart. Has God said Is that really true? They're lying to you. This couldn't be right. They're looking for opportunities to discredit the work, to sow dissension and discord among us, to divide us so the world can't know we're Christians by our love. They're seeking to plant heresies into your minds. Do you know that the devil wants you to deny the existence of the Trinity? He wants you to deny the distinction of the three persons or to deny the oneness of the essence because then he's got you. Because then you're worshiping a different God than the God of the Bible. The devil would cackle with glee if you would embrace heresies about who Jesus is. If you deny his humanity or deny his deity or say he's half God and half man rather than he's 100% God and 100% man, The devil's even okay if you believe that Jesus is a way to God. He's perfectly happy with that. But he doesn't want you to believe he's the only way to God. Because if he says he's a way to God, then he can get you to embrace the fallacies of false religion and false philosophy. The demons would absolutely love it if you would embrace a different gospel and call it your own. You know, Pastor Jerry and Pastor Matt, they just get so worked up about this justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus alone. Let's go listen to what the Roman Catholics have to say. And let's listen to what the Eastern Orthodox have to say, because maybe my works have a little bit of merit. They want you to embrace a different gospel. Do not allow them to. Contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints, because your soul depends upon it. And beware, because you realize something, you're all prone to wonder. And I am prone to wonder. When we begin to neglect the private means of grace, and we're neglecting private Bible reading, and we're neglecting prayer in the prayer closet, we become lazy about attending the church and the public means of grace. When you isolate yourself from the fellowship of the saints, do you realize you're like an African wildebeest? You just isolate itself from the herd and make yourself open prey to the lions. And don't be deceived, the devil doesn't just come with bad theology. he comes with bad morals. If he can't get you to openly deny the truth, what he'll do is he'll say, he'll tempt you with pornography. He'll tempt you with the love of money. He'll tempt you with the world's pleasures and its entertainments, the love of the world and the things of the world. And he'll begin to get you to deny God in your works. And you know what happens then? In order to sear your conscience because it's screaming at you, you embrace falsehood because you can't hold on to the truth and continue to maintain your sinful lifestyle. That's why Paul said to Timothy, take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. That is, look at your own walk with the Lord. Look at your own sanctification and be on guard. Because very often men apostatize morally before they apostatize theologically. they finally do apostatize theologically, it's because their heart already moved far away from the Lord. So, brothers and sisters, don't be unaware of Satan's devices. I told you that this affects the mission field. Do you realize that Wycliffe Bible Translators and SIL and what's the other one? Pioneers, all of them are producing translations of the Bible in Islamic context that omit references to the Trinity and that take away references to Jesus being the Son of God. Because that might offend the sensibilities of the Muslim world. This is promoted. I could show you books on my shelf that promote this as a good thing. You think Satan cares about this doctrine? He does. He wants to hide it from the world. He wants to hide it from the church. Brothers and sisters, be vigilant. Be vigilant, because Satan is all about us, seeking us, that he may devour us. Second and final application is this. Who do you say that Jesus Christ is? Most important question I can ask you, who do you say that Jesus Christ is? The purpose for which John wrote this wonderful book is that Jesus, you'll believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. Jesus' followers believed and claimed that he was more than just a good moral teacher. The disciples of Jesus did not view him as simply a spiritual guru who was misunderstood by the crowds and was a tragic martyr. John the Baptist and John the Apostle and all the apostles and the church have testified throughout the ages that Jesus was none other than the second person of the Godhead, the second person of the Trinity, the only begotten Son of God, who in the fullness of time became man. This past Wednesday night, Pastor Matt read about the trial and abuse of Jesus from Matthew 27. The text says that Roman soldiers spat upon Jesus. They took the reed and they struck him in the head. Do you realize that they literally spit in the face of God? And they were striking God in the head? Jesse picked up the reading in the later part of Matthew 27 about the crucifixion. Four Roman soldiers nailed Jesus' hands and feet to the cross and they sat at the base of the cross. And there were men who mocked, walked by mocking Jesus. They wagged their heads the Bible says, and they blasphemed Him. That's the word. Matthew 27 verse 39, they blasphemed Jesus. You ever thought about that? Is it possible to blaspheme a mere man? You can mock a mere man, you can abuse a mere man, but you can't blaspheme a man. The only person you can blaspheme is God himself. And yet the text specifically says they blasphemed this man, Jesus Christ. The only way they can blaspheme him is if he's Almighty God. And that's exactly who he is. The Lord Jesus Christ is Emmanuel, God with us. The two Jehovah's Witnesses that I met on the Silver Comet Trail, they were wrong about Jesus. They were right that the way to be saved is to believe on Jesus, but they had the wrong Jesus to believe in. Which Jesus do you believe in? Perhaps you ask this question, okay, pastor, you've heard what you said, but how do we know for certain that Jesus really is the only begotten son of God? You know how? Because God raised him from the dead. Romans 1, verses 1-4, listen to what Paul says, Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the Gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is born of the seed of David according to the flesh. So he is man. He is of the lineage of David. But then listen to what it says, verse 4, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead." In other words, the Holy Spirit raising Jesus bodily from the dead was Him shouting to the whole world, this is the only begotten Son of God. Believe on Him and you'll be saved. And that's my call to you. Here's my call. You ready for it? God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. If you're in this room, God loves you. And it's not just me calling you to be reconciled to God, it is God himself calling you to be reconciled to God. Listen to the language of 2 Corinthians 5, 20 to 21. We are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. God himself is the one who sent me here this morning to preach to you and to call you to faith in Jesus. Whoever you are, however great your sins are, are you a sexual pervert? Have you been yielded to fornication and adultery? Maybe you unnaturally have desires for your own gender, which is contrary to nature itself, so that you're prone to be a homosexual or a lesbian. God can forgive you. There's mercy to be found in Christ for you. Or maybe you're habitually rebellious and you've rebelled against your parents and you've spoken disrespectfully to them or about them or disobeyed them or lied to them. Well, you're rebelling against the authority of God himself. And yet there is forgiveness for you to be found in Jesus Christ. Or maybe you're full of pride and you're prone to boast of your own good works and your own merits and all your accomplishments. Well, your pride is going to keep you from heaven. But the Bible also says, if you will humble yourself before the almighty God under his hand, he will exalt you. Humble yourself and forsake your sins and forsake your pride and put your faith in Christ, depending upon him to save you. The church is the bride of Christ and she's constantly calling you to believe on Jesus, but it's the Holy Spirit himself who's doing so. So this is how the Revelation 22, 17 puts it. I'll let this be the concluding call. The Spirit and the bride say, come. And let him who hears say, come. and let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely." That is what's offered to you this morning. Believe on Christ and you will be saved. Let's pray. Our Father, help us to grasp this truth and apprehend this truth by faith. that Jesus truly is the only begotten Son of God who became a man, who died, was buried, and was raised from the dead three days later. I pray especially for any of our children who have not yet closed with Christ, that this very day they would awaken to their need for Christ and be saved. And for us who are in Christ, help us to lay a hold of the truth and not let the devil snatch it from us, but to cling to it with all of our might, with the power and help of the Spirit of God Himself.