Hello, this is Pastor Phil Fernandez, Pastor of Trinity Bible Fellowship, just reaching out, saying hello, giving everybody a little word of encouragement. And I'd like to read a passage for you from the Gospel of John, chapter one today, which talks about Jesus's identity. And John begins his gospel by saying, 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 by 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. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. And so we see here that Jesus existed in the beginning. Remember the whole Bible starts in Genesis 1.1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. So in the beginning, that's basically before anything was created, not philosophically precise language, but we get the point because you know the universe was created, time was created, so there's no before in that sense, but basically what it's telling us is that in the beginning, when everything was created, Jesus already existed. So Jesus is eternal. and uh... and the word there for the word is logos in the greek the ancient greeks believed in uh... they they had this idea well everything is in a state of flux everything's in a state of change and so how do we make sense of it how does the human mind understand the things of this physical world that are changing they came up with the logos doctrine that some non-personal mind enlightens our minds so that we could understand the world of flux and this Logos also, this non-personal mind also orders everything in the universe so that it makes sense so we can make sense of it. Well the Apostle John said, well the Greeks are right. The Logos does exist and the Logos does enlighten our minds. He says that a little bit later on but he says that they're wrong. The Logos is not a non-personal mind or force like electricity but the Logos is a person. of the world. He was with the Father. He's a distinct person from God the Father. So at least two persons of the Trinity are mentioned here. But He's equally God with the Father. That last portion there, that last phrase, and the word was God, means He is equally God with the Father. He was in the beginning with God. He's eternal. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come. into being so Jesus is eternal he is God the second person of the Trinity he is the creator in him was life and so in Jesus is life so if you're not in Christ if you're not trusting in Jesus for salvation you're outside of life you're still in the realm of death and so in Jesus is life and then we're told that Jesus gives light and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. Jesus gives us light, spiritual enlightenment. If you were in a dark room and you couldn't see anything, you'd bump into the furniture because you were ignorant of your surroundings. You turn on the light and now you have the knowledge to navigate the room. And so Jesus gives us spiritual enlightenment, but also light and darkness. Darkness is sin in the scriptures. And so Jesus gives us not only spiritual enlightenment, but also spiritual purity. Now verse 9, there was the true light which coming into the world enlightens every man. Okay, and so here again Jesus is the true light who enlightens every man. And so that's the Logos. Yeah, the Logos is real, but the Greeks were wrong. The Logos is a person, God the second person of the Trinity, and Jesus gives us light. It's like C.S. Lewis said, the S-O-N is like the S-U-N. Just as the S-U-N, we not only see the sun through its light, but through the light of the sun we see everything else. It's the same with the S-O-N, with the Lord Jesus, in his light we see him, spiritual truth, but even our knowledge of the natural world comes through Jesus. In God's light we see light, the psalmist tells us. So 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. So the world did not recognize their own creator when he visited this planet. But then it says he came to his own, that's the Jews, and those who were his own did not receive him. They should have known better, but his own people, the Jews, rejected him, even though they had, you know, over a thousand years of prophecies predicting the coming of the Jewish Messiah. Now that's, the Gentiles rejected him, the Jews rejected him, good news, some people accepted him, and we're evidence of that today. Verse 12, 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 so, the world did not recognize Jesus the creator, His people, the Jews, did not accept Him. They rejected Him. Yet Jesus gave those who believe in Him the right to become children of God. And we are born again. If you trust in Jesus for salvation, the Holy Spirit gives you the new birth, regenerates you, so that you're born of God. and so you trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation God makes you born of God or born again and then verse 14 and the word the Logos Jesus and the word became flesh the word in the Greek is sarx and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory glory is of the only begotten from the father full of grace and truth and what we learn from the scriptures we put other passages together We learn that Jesus is fully, he always existed as fully God, the second person of the Trinity. But at a point in time, so he had a full divine nature. Everything you have to have to be God, Jesus has. but at a point in time he added a human nature without subtracting from his divine nature. So Jesus is 100% God and 100% man. Jesus is fully God and fully man. This is the unity of two distinct natures, a divine nature and a human nature in one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that's the doctrine of the hypostatic union. Jesus is fully God and fully man. He's 100% God and 100% man. And he is one person with two distinct natures forever. So in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh, and His name is Jesus. And God's Word tells us in John 3, 17, He didn't come to earth to condemn us. We already condemned ourselves through our sin. He didn't come to earth to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. And so if you trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation, you'll be saved. This is Pastor Phil Fernandes of Trinity Bible Fellowship. If you'd like to support our ministry or get in touch with us, check out our website philfernandes.org philfernandes.org You can click on the sermonaudio.com slash IBD button. The link on top of my photo. Get access to 1,700 different sermons that I've given and debates and lectures over the years. You can also Watch us on the Phil Fernandez show and we encourage you to subscribe to that. You can also contact us at Trinity Bible Fellowship P.O. Box 3264. That's P.O. Box 3264, Bremerton, Washington 98310. 98310. Thank you. God bless you. Be safe. We love you. Can't wait till we get to meet again face to face.