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[0:00] And last Sunday we kind of just introduced this gospel and showed you the purpose, very plainly John states his purpose for writing this gospel and this version, if you will, of the ministry and life of Jesus Christ.

[0:20] And really this is such an interesting and such a different take that I'm just going to take the time with it a little bit this morning and cover some material just to help you get an understanding of what's so different about this gospel.

[0:39] So last week we saw that his goal and purpose was for every reader that they would read and believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing he might have life through his name.

[0:52] John's goal is to point the reader to Jesus Christ and to convince them to believe on him for eternal life. No other gospel writer states things like that or nearly as plain as like, this is why I want you to get my gospel.

[1:08] This is John, he's just different. And it's a good one, it's a good thing. Now, Matthew and Mark and Luke all present Jesus Christ in a little different way.

[1:19] They all have their, if you want to call it, their own slant on Jesus Christ, their own angle. And all four of the gospel writers, they're all right and they're all correct in what they say and the scriptures are given by inspiration of God.

[1:34] But they all present him slightly differently. It's not to say that he's different, it's just, there's a purpose to it. There's a real purpose to it. And one thing that stands out about John is how he begins his gospel by taking the Lord Jesus Christ all the way back into eternity before creation.

[1:57] Now, you see that in verse 1, in the beginning, the word is was. In the beginning was already in existence. Before the beginning of time, in the beginning was.

[2:11] It's a state of being. God says, I am that I am. In the present tense, he is. And it's not about I am happy or I am powerful, but I just, I exist, I am.

[2:24] And now when John looks back through eyes of faith into eternity before creation, he sees the eternal son of God called the word.

[2:36] And he says, before anything ever happened anywhere, he was. In the beginning was the word. Now, before we get into this thought here, let's just consider something about these gospels.

[2:50] Let's go to Mark chapter 1. I'm going to take you to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the beginning of their gospels. But I'll start with Mark and point something out and just kind of show you how different John is than everybody else.

[3:02] Mark chapter 1. And the first two words is the beginning, but it's not at all the same beginning. Because Mark's beginning is when Jesus Christ is, well, the beginning of the gospel.

[3:22] It's kind of the beginning of the gospel story. And he starts it basically when he's 30 years old. Verse number 1 of Mark says, The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face.

[3:40] Who's that messenger, somebody? John the Baptist. So Mark starts the beginning of the gospel of Jesus. He starts with John the Baptist. When John comes on the way preaching and he's preparing the way for the Christ to come.

[3:56] And so that's what he does. Now, let's go back to Matthew's gospel. Matthew chapter 1. And Matthew goes a little bit further back.

[4:15] Matthew says in chapter 1, The book of the generation of Jesus Christ. So this is about genealogies of Jesus Christ. He's going to take us back before John the Baptist. He's going to take us through his parentage behind them.

[4:29] The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David. What's that mean? Well, that means he's the king. He's the Son of David. You see that in verse number 6. Jesse begat David the king.

[4:40] And David the king. So the kingly line comes through David. So he's identified with David. Verse 1 again. The son of David, the son of Abraham. And so Jesus Christ is king of the Jews.

[4:53] He takes Jesus Christ back to Abraham. And that's where he begins with verse 2. Abraham begat Isaac. Is Abraham the beginning of anything? Well, he's the beginning of the Jewish nation.

[5:06] So God, Matthew takes Jesus Christ in his presentation back to the beginning of the Jewish nation. To his father, all their father, Abraham. Father Abraham. And of course he ties in that kingly line as he follows through in this presentation.

[5:22] Now look at Luke. We'll see one more difference here. Luke goes back a little bit further. Luke doesn't bother presenting Jesus Christ as the king of the Jews.

[5:34] Luke's gospel is not as Jewish as Matthew's is. Luke. Luke. I don't have time to cover the beginning chapter here.

[5:48] But when Luke gets into a genealogy of Jesus Christ. Of course Matthew as we know in chapter 1. I didn't point it out. But after he got through the genealogies. He took you to now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise.

[6:02] And so he took you through that genealogy. And straight to this Mary and Joseph thing. And to Bethlehem. And then to the wise men a couple years coming after that. And then the next thing you know is John the Baptist in Matthew chapter 3.

[6:17] So genealogy, birth, John the Baptist. Alright now Luke does a little bit more. Luke backs up into the inception of John the Baptist.

[6:29] He gives a little history on John the Baptist. His parents in chapter 1. Zacharias and Elizabeth. And how Gabriel comes and talks to his father in verse 19.

[6:42] And then a little bit later Gabriel shows up and speaks to Mary. And tells her she's going to have a son. And so he's delivering some news about some baby boys. Two of them.

[6:52] John the Baptist. And Jesus Christ. And that is fulfilled. And chapter 2 of Luke is the birth of Jesus Christ. And then in chapter 3 comes John the Baptist.

[7:03] But he backtracks in chapter 3 to give us the genealogy of Christ through his mother Mary. And I just want to take you to the end of chapter 3.

[7:13] And show you that she takes or he takes the genealogy through David. David in verse 31. The very end of that you see David mentioned.

[7:27] And he continues back. And you see in verse 34. Jacob, Isaac, Abraham. But he doesn't stop with Abraham. He carries it all the way back to Adam in verse 38.

[7:38] All the way back to Adam. The first man. And the last part of verse 38 says. Which was the son of Adam. Which was the son of God. And so the beginning of creation.

[7:50] Luke takes Christ's genealogy all the way back to the first man on the planet. Now back to John chapter 1. Because John is not about that.

[8:01] He's nothing like these other guys. Luke sees the gospel of Jesus Christ. Takes them all the way back to when God created Adam. And then Eve in the Garden of Eden. Starts with the human race.

[8:12] Matthew says. Oh this is all about the Jewish kingdom. And the Jews. And the nation of Israel. And he takes them back to Abraham. And whatever's before that doesn't matter to Matthew. Because he's presenting Jesus Christ through that lens.

[8:23] Of the king of the Jews. That he was the Messiah. Mark doesn't even bother with any of that. He presents him as one that's come to fulfill the word of God. And to serve. He is presented more as a servant.

[8:35] As a meek and lowly servant. And so Mark doesn't bother with this Jewish stuff. And he doesn't bother with this humanity stuff. And he certainly doesn't do what John does. Mark just dives right into what he did.

[8:47] And his actions and his work. But John. John just can't do that. John is looking so much higher. And so much more lofty of a view.

[8:57] A grander view. Of the son of God. That he starts with those three words. That you recognize. And makes your minds think of Genesis 1.1. In the beginning. And immediately you're like.

[9:08] Well that's the first three words of the Bible. In the beginning. God created. Moses wrote that. And that's all that Moses really told us. He gave us a creation account.

[9:19] In Genesis 1 and 2. And he said. In the beginning. God created the heaven and the earth. But John looks back into creation. And beyond that. Into eternity. And he sees.

[9:29] The word existed. And he said. He even shows us. Who this God is. That created everything. And he's going to tie. We're going to say some things about it. So let's try to understand some things.

[9:41] Let John just. Blow our minds. Let him open things up. So much wider. The spectrum that John. Wants to point. Remember. He wants us to believe on Christ. For eternal life.

[9:52] He doesn't want us to just see him. As the Messiah. To send to deliver Israel. And you know. He wants to take it. To the world. And he's going to take Jesus Christ. All the way back.

[10:02] As far back as possible. So in the beginning. Verse 1. Was. The word. You see a capital W there. Why is it a capital W? Because it's a name.

[10:13] For a person. It's a proper noun. It's a person. It's not talking about the Bible. And so when you see a capital W. You're talking about Jesus Christ. The second person.

[10:24] Of the Godhead. The Father. Son. Holy Ghost. Keep your place. And flip over to 1st John chapter 5. And here's why I say.

[10:36] He's the second person. Of the Godhead. Compare scripture. With scripture. 1st John chapter 5. And we want to look at verse number 7.

[10:48] And this is the best verse in the Bible. That teaches the Trinity.

[10:59] This triune God. Three. Tri. Unity. Trinity. Three or one. Verse 7 says. For there are three that bear record in heaven.

[11:11] The Father. The Word. The Lord. And the Holy Ghost. And these three are one. So there is the three persons of the Godhead.

[11:23] The Godhead is the Bible term. Trinity is not found in the Bible. But the word Godhead is found three times in the scriptures. And it's a reference to the three persons of God in one.

[11:35] These three are one. It doesn't matter if you don't understand that. That's okay. I don't understand that. And I'll pledge and just full-heartedly, openly declare.

[11:47] I don't understand the Trinity. At all. I believe it. I believe that these three are one. It's hard for me to understand how Christ says that I am in the Father.

[11:59] And the Father is in me. And he that has seen me has seen the Father. And he says, no man hath ascended into heaven. The Son of Man which is in heaven. He hath to, like, you're standing right here but you're in heaven.

[12:11] And this whole thing about the Father in me, we'll make our abode with him. It's over my head. But I believe it. But I believe it. That the scripture says in each person of the Godhead dwells the fullness of the Godhead.

[12:26] They're inseparable and yet they're distinct. It's, there's nothing really that you can compare it to on earth that I know of. Nothing physical that you can look at and say, oh, a three-leaf clover.

[12:39] That's just not. It's not it. There's nothing that I know of. So anyway, nevertheless, in the beginning was the Word. Now the Word with a capital W is a reference to the one we know as now of Jesus Christ.

[12:52] Before his name's ever revealed as Jesus, which is Jehovah saves or Jehovah is Savior, as a man, his name is Jesus. As God in eternity, his title is the Word.

[13:06] In 1 John chapter 1, he's called the Word of Life. A little fuller version of the Word is the Word of Life. Another fuller version is the Word of God.

[13:17] That's in Revelation 19. His name is the Word of God. And it's not to be confused with the Scriptures. That's the small w every time you see it.

[13:28] Now what's sometimes confusing to people or at least slightly misrepresentative is when people write books and they write articles and they want to elevate the Word of God, the Scriptures, they put a capital W.

[13:42] Or they put Holy Scriptures with a capital H and a capital S. You never see that in the Bible. It's always small s Scripture. It's always small w word. And so you should, the Bible makes a distinction.

[13:54] Because one is a proper name or title. And the other is a, just a common noun. Even though we want to make it uncommon to call it the Holy Word of God.

[14:06] Which I understand that. But you ought to be careful with that. If God makes a distinction, it might be wise for you to make the distinction too. Even if you want to elevate the Scriptures, don't try to confuse it with what the Bible, the way the Bible is written with a capital W.

[14:22] All right, verse 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Now, I don't know if you're aware of this, but Jehovah's Witnesses despise that wording.

[14:38] They don't believe that wording. And so they've put out their own Bible, their own translation of the text, and they've translated it and added an article after the Word was, at the very end, to say the Word was a God.

[14:54] And the reason they did that is because they don't believe that Jesus Christ was God in the beginning. They believe He was with God and separated in a separate entity, a separate being, but they believe He was created by God to do some things, but that He's not God, like the Father, Jehovah.

[15:16] And so they have made Him to be a lesser and a created being that is separate from Jehovah. And that's just, it's false doctrine. It doesn't wash with Scripture. So what do they do? They change the Scripture to say that the Word was a God.

[15:29] And their background, or their reasoning is, well, in the Greek, there's an article assumed with the word God. And so if you're going to say God, then it's like a noun.

[15:42] You know, you don't say, I have book. You say, I have a book. And so they say, well, you don't just say the Word was God. You say the Word was a God, because the article a belongs kind of assumed in there.

[15:54] As you translate into English, you have to bring... The problem is they don't go to every reference to where it talks about God and say, Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God. They just do it here where it crosses their belief and their opinions about who Jesus Christ is.

[16:10] So they're hypocrites is what I'm telling you. Their Bible is a hypocritical piece of junk that is attacking the deity of our Savior Jesus Christ and demoting Him to something else that they believe He is when He's not.

[16:23] And they're going to find out who He is. They are all going to find out who He is when they stand in front of them and find out He is God in the flesh that was made flesh for us.

[16:34] All right, now, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Now, here's something. The same was in the beginning with God. Verse 2 sounds just like it's repeating verse 1.

[16:48] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. Verse 2, you could kind of rephrase it and say, In the beginning, the same, the Word was with God. It's just, it's redundant.

[17:01] And maybe there's a reason for its redundancy, so that some fool doesn't come along and say, Oh, he wasn't who he says he was or who we believe he was. But where is he? It says he's with God.

[17:12] He's with God. With God, right? And it says he was God. But he's with God. What does that mean? Well, here's what I believe it means. Look at verse number 18. In verse number 18, No man hath seen God at any time.

[17:29] The only begotten Son, notice this phrase, which is in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared him. The only begotten Son is in the bosom of the Father.

[17:43] You remember when, in Hebrews, when this description of Melchizedek is being pointed out, that Jesus Christ came through Melchizedek, and he makes comments that Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, and he says, he's trying to show that Melchizedek, the priesthood, is better than Levi's priesthood, because Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek's line of, or his priesthood, and therefore Levi was in the loins of Abraham, paying homage or submitting to, giving tithes.

[18:17] Do you remember that, Pat? If you've never read that, you'd have to take, I think it's in maybe chapter 7, of Hebrews 6 or 7. The point is that Levi was never born yet, but he was in the loins of his great-great-grandfather, Abraham.

[18:33] He was inside of him, in a sense. And now this says that Jesus Christ is in the bosom of the Father. And that means he has not, well, this is going to cross the Trinity lines here, but just for sake of understanding, he has not come forth from the bosom.

[18:54] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. And where he was in the bosom of the Father.

[19:05] And then he declares, or he comes forth from the bosom of the Father. Look at chapter 8, John chapter 8. He comes forth from God, and is begotten.

[19:24] Verse number 42. 842. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me.

[19:40] For I proceeded forth, and came from God. Neither came I of myself, but he sent me. And he says that God is his Father.

[19:52] Because he's begotten of God. He came forth from the bosom of the Father. The word begotten does not mean that he was born of Mary in Bethlehem. That is not where he's the only begotten Son of God.

[20:04] He's the only begotten Son of God, because he came forth from the Father. Look at chapter 16. That's my opinion and belief on that statement, that he's the only begotten.

[20:23] That shows up several times in the Bible. And I've never heard anyone teach it, that it means he's coming forth from the Father, but rather that he was kind of, you know, made to be a child or born.

[20:36] And I don't believe that's the case at all. And I'll give you scripture why. Okay, so John 16, look at verse 28. I came forth from the Father and am come into the world.

[20:55] Is that the same statement twice, or is that one before the other? He came forth from the Father before he ever came into the world.

[21:06] Look at chapter 17. And verse 8. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee.

[21:20] There it is again. Now, turn to 1 John chapter 4, just to show you that this is before Bethlehem, that he's begotten.

[21:31] But I believe it's when he came forth from the Father in eternity, pre-creation to create. And we'll see that in a minute.

[21:43] 1 John chapter 4. And look at verse 9. And this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world.

[22:03] To me, that's saying that he is the only begotten Son, and he's then sent into the world. And it's not saying that he sent himself into the world and then was begotten.

[22:15] And the word begot is associated with the man, not with the woman. It's always the man, as far as I know. Here's one more thought.

[22:26] You can come back to John chapter 1. And long before Mary and Joseph and Bethlehem and any of that, in Daniel chapter 3, there was three Hebrews that were thrown into a fire because they wouldn't bow down to an image made by Nebuchadnezzar the king.

[22:46] And they heated the fire. And when Nebuchadnezzar looked in there, he was astonished. He was shocked. Because why? Because there was four men loose walking in the fire. And the form of the fourth was like unto the Son of God.

[23:01] The Son of God. That's not born of Mary. Begotten. He's begotten before that. He came forth from the Father and existed.

[23:13] And we studied in doctrine class the other Sunday, many places where he is working and is revealing himself to men in the Old Testament times in different ways and forms.

[23:26] So he's in the bosom of the Father when he is with God in John chapter 1 verse 2. John's looking back into eternity. And he's seeing the Godhead.

[23:38] And he's seeing the word of life. And there's stuff we're going to touch on here that is, I'm telling you, it's way over my head in understanding. But what I can put together from the Bible, we'll try to articulate it.

[23:52] It may just confuse you, or it may just leave a whole lot of stuff hanging. I don't know if I can do much with it. But I'll try. That Jesus Christ is the eternal life that comes forth from the Father.

[24:07] And we'll get to that in a minute. Verse number 3 now. John 1 verse 3 says, Now why is John saying that?

[24:25] Well, look at verse, is he just talking about God? Because he was with God, but God created all things? Or is he talking about the word? Verse 10 says, He was in the world, and the world was made by him.

[24:39] That's the word. That's the Son of God. The world was made by him. So when the Bible says, In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, and puts a period there, and it doesn't tell us any more about that God.

[24:56] It just goes into creation, and God said, and God said. Progressive revelation of the Bible, As you continue to read, more light comes, and God drops more crumbs into the picture, and more pieces form.

[25:10] As you study and read your Bible, you find out that back in Genesis 1, 1, that was the word that had come forth from the Father to create all things.

[25:21] All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. Now let's make sure we're not just presuming something.

[25:31] Let's cross-reference this with scripture. Let's go to Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1. And this will clarify, and maybe put two thoughts together for us.

[25:54] To say that God created the heaven and the earth, but then to say that it was created by the word, the Son of, the only begotten Son of God. Hebrews chapter 1, verse number 1.

[26:06] God, the creator of heaven and earth, God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.

[26:36] God made the worlds by his Son that proceeded forth from the Father and created all things.

[26:47] Verse 3. Who being the brightness of his glory, the glory of God, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he, the Son, had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.

[27:07] You see, the work that God does is done through the second person, we call him, the word. He does the work through Jesus Christ. There's other references.

[27:18] You want to write these down, write down Ephesians chapter 3, verse 9. Look that up later. Describing Jesus Christ as creator. Ephesians 3, 9. And also Colossians 1, verse 15 through 17.

[27:33] It tells us that Jesus Christ created all things. That they were created by him and for him. And by him, all things consist.

[27:44] Because he's upholding all things by the word of his power. All right, John chapter 1 again. I know this is kind of heavy and it's a lot to it, but it's where John starts.

[27:56] And it'd just be wrong to just breeze past it so that we can get to John 3, 16. So let's get some doctrine and get some truth because John gives it to us. All right, verse number 3 again.

[28:09] He says, All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. Now this is where my head explodes a little bit. I try to pick it up and put it back together and then I just, I can't do it.

[28:23] Verse 4 says, In him was life. And the life was the light of men. Now this is, I like to sit and think about the words of the Bible.

[28:36] I like to try to understand what that means. And it seems like, Well, yeah, I mean, in him was life, so he has the ability to give life to others. And that's good.

[28:49] And that's something. That's understandable and relatable. Because in me is life. And I have the ability to procreate as you do.

[29:00] And in him was life, but there's something more in him than what's in me. Because his life is the light of men, it's said to be. And here's a question that I ask that I have never found a satisfactory answer to.

[29:18] And that is just simply, What is life? Just you give me a definition of life without using the word life. What is life?

[29:30] You can sit and think about it for a while. Unless you're some high IQ intellect that's been down this road already, you're probably just going to run in circles. I don't know that you're really going to put your finger on it and say, It is this.

[29:45] I've looked up dictionary definitions. I've looked up scientific definitions. And every single one of them used the word life. They all refer to itself to describe what it is.

[29:55] That's not satisfactory to me. Now, Jesus Christ said, I am the resurrection and the life. And he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

[30:07] This is something that he is. But more than that, can you come back to 1 John again? I should have kept you there. 1 John chapter 5. Something that he offers is eternal life.

[30:26] He offers the woman at the well water of life. He offers to those Jews their bread of life. Something not physical.

[30:37] Something that is spiritual. It's something spiritual. It's what it is. And in 1 John chapter 5, at the end of this book, he references Christ being eternal life himself.

[30:51] We already saw that he's the resurrection and the life. He's the way, the truth, and the life. Verse 20 says, And we know that the Son of God has come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son, Jesus Christ.

[31:06] This is the true God and eternal life. Jesus Christ is the true God and Jesus Christ is eternal life.

[31:22] In him was life. Now, we know physical life. We get that. That he created all things, that he gave life unto it, that he breathed into it, that his nostrils the breath of life.

[31:36] In Revelation, those two witnesses in chapter 11 are slain and they're laying dead. And the Bible says that God sent the spirit of life entered into them. So what is life?

[31:48] It's a spirit. But it's Jesus Christ. But it's not necessarily your physical life is Jesus Christ in the eternal form, but it's...

[32:00] I'm telling you, I have trouble distinguishing and understanding what this is. The Bible says in Acts 17, For in him we live and move and have our being.

[32:14] In Romans 11, For of him and through him and to him are all things. In Colossians 1, he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

[32:24] There's physical life that is because and through Jesus Christ. But before life existed on earth, in him was life.

[32:36] Look at John chapter 5. The gospel of John, back in John chapter 5. Before anything was created, before the earth was, in him was life.

[32:49] Look at chapter 5, and verse 26. For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.

[33:08] And now he's going to say, I'm going to raise up some dead corpses, and I'm going to raise them out of the ground. But before that, he talks about everlasting life.

[33:20] Verse 24. Look at the end of verse 24. He shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death. That's not physical death. That's spiritual death. Passed from death unto life by believing on him and receiving eternal life.

[33:34] The Father hath life in himself. In him was life. And the life was the light of men. Now if you don't have a spirit, you're dead.

[33:48] James said that the body without the spirit is dead. When Jesus Christ expired on the cross, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.

[34:01] And having said thus, he gave up the ghost. And so the Holy Ghost or the ghost is interchanged with the spirit. And you know Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost is like the same person, same term.

[34:14] And the ghost or the spirit departed from his physical body and he died physically. But he didn't die. Like he didn't cease to exist.

[34:29] He descended into the lower parts of the earth. And the Bible says in Peter that he preached to the spirits in prison. That's a dead body that's up there on the earth, up there in the tomb.

[34:42] But down there in the lower parts of the earth, he's alive and he's preaching because he's an eternal soul. And in him was life. And so he's not dead at all. So what is life exactly?

[34:55] I don't know. I truly don't know. But it exists with God before anything happened. He has life.

[35:06] He is life. He's the giver of life. He's the taker of life. He can extract his spirit as in the spirit that you possess, the spirit of man.

[35:17] It keeps you alive. It keeps this body alive. If that goes, you go. And you drop dead. And if he breathes spirit, we heard from a guy yesterday that was preaching in Ezekiel 37 about the valley of dry bones and how all those bones were assembled and sinews and flesh was upon them and they all stood up like an army, but they didn't have any breath in them.

[35:40] They were all standing corpses just like God formed man of the dust of the ground. While that fully formed man just lay there lifeless, he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and in Ezekiel 37 he commanded the wind to breathe on them and he made them alive and put his spirit in them, he said.

[36:01] And so physical life needs God's spirit and to be alive, to have life. When that spirit goes, that life goes. It's like it's the life giving, it's a spiritual thing that is quickening this mortal body of flesh and making you a living soul, I should add.

[36:22] And so it's something that God can only make and fashion and do, at least for real anyway. But then, but then we run into Jesus Christ and him being eternal life and it's like it's another, it's another quality, it's another spectrum of what life is, eternal life.

[36:51] And that's where it's, I'm telling you, I'm just lost with all of this. In Psalm 36, the Bible says, with thee is the fountain of life.

[37:02] With thee, with God, he's the source of all life. And of course, as far as evolution goes, we know that that's just complete folly. We don't even have to think twice about it. It's unfortunate that so many brilliant minds are so stupid when it comes to the beginning of life.

[37:18] Like seriously, they really believe that it just initiated itself on its own or through some, some random, they can't even describe it really.

[37:31] They can't. They have no clue. And it goes against everything that we know and can see and can study. The only thing that makes sense is what we read in the scriptures and that there's a God that gives life.

[37:44] And in him, Jesus Christ, is life. He said in John 10, I am come that they might have life. And of course, that's not physical life. They're already alive.

[37:55] So he's trying to give them something more than that. Now, we'll move past it. Verse number four says, in him was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.

[38:13] Why not? Maybe because they were educated and they were told not to believe in the light. Maybe they were so educated they were told that there is no light.

[38:25] Even when it shines on them, they were told that's not true and that's not real. And so they were programmed to stay in darkness. And not comprehend the light that God shines on them.

[38:38] Because it's the light that lighteth every man that entereth into the world. Where's that at? Verse nine. This was the true light, capital L. Now we're talking about a person which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

[38:53] So the light shineth in darkness. And you notice that's a present tense verb in verse five. It's not the light shined back then with Jesus Christ one day.

[39:04] But it's still currently the light shineth. It's continuing. It's ongoing. It's shining today. And in one way it's shining is through the scriptures.

[39:16] The entrance of thy word giveth light. The Bible says that ye are the children of light. And something that you and I are to be is to shine, holding forth the word of life, the word of life, as lights that shine amongst a dark, crooked, perverse generation.

[39:34] I forget that. It's Philippians 2, I think. I'm misquoting it, but light, life, interchange there. The light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.

[39:46] Verse number six says, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. Now we know this man as John the Baptist. But his name is John. Later they call him John the Baptizer or they even, one place calls him John Baptist.

[40:02] Now why did they, he got the nickname because he was baptizing. He was sent from God to baptize and that's what he did. That even shows up a little later in this chapter. In verse number 25, they asked him and said, why baptizeth thou then if thou are not that Christ?

[40:17] John baptized people as he was commanded of God to prepare them as they repented and they confessed their sins and they were ready to receive the message God was sending.

[40:30] This, this was light from above and they were going to submit to it. And how do you submit to it? You get baptized. This is not something that to be confused with what's going, what you do today or when you trust Christ and get baptized and not to be confused with that.

[40:45] People, a lot of people are confused about that. But one thing I want to say about John the Baptist is this, this church out there on the sign says Bible Baptist Church. We are not named Baptist Church because of John the Baptist at all.

[40:59] Everybody should know this. You might not even know this. You might be confused about this, so don't be confused about this. The Baptist Church or the Baptist name today has nothing to do with John the Baptist.

[41:12] It has everything to do with the same reason why he was called John the Baptist because he was baptizing people. And I don't know the years on this but back in history as Bible-believing Christians were coming through and eras and generations coming through, over time, different names were put on these people that believed, read, studied, and preached the scriptures.

[41:40] People that did not go and baptize, sprinkle their children. People that did not pay money to the Roman Catholic Church to get their relatives out of purgatory and things like that.

[41:52] People said, that's false and that's of the devil. But we believe the scriptures and we walk by faith and we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior. And those people were given nicknames.

[42:05] Just like the disciples at Antioch were given a nickname, Christian. You bunch of Christians, you follow Christ so you're a Christian. They gave people nicknames and one of them was Anabaptist which means another or a second time baptized.

[42:24] So they said, you're an Anabaptist because you were sprinkled like you, you know, through the Catholic traditions and faith or whatever the, all of them do it. Sprinkled that little baby, you were baptized to be this religion and now you're supposedly, you know, a child of God when nothing happened at all.

[42:42] You're still a child of the devil on your way to hell. But these people came out of that religion and believed on Jesus Christ by faith, trusted Him to be their Savior according to the Word of God and then read in that Bible that they were to publicly or display their belief in Christ, to publicly confess Him by being baptized.

[43:07] Just as Christ was buried, they would go under, immersed in water, not sprinkled, but immersed in water and come back up to walk in newness of life and display to everybody, I'm identifying with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

[43:22] And so that's why I got baptized. And for many of them, it was the second time being sprinkled as a baby and now they're saying, that's not good enough, mom and dad. I'm a follower of Jesus Christ.

[43:33] I'm going with the Bible, not with religion. And so they've got a name called the Anna Baptist. Another time you got baptized. And the term Baptist is carried through over time.

[43:47] It's only a representation of people that believe the scriptures as their authority and give no credence to organized religion, have nothing to do with anything made and established by man.

[44:00] We just follow the Bible. And it's a term that got slapped on those people of which is our heritage. Because today, we are those people that believe the Bible and follow the Bible and don't care about what any pope says or anybody in any office in some building that represents some denomination.

[44:25] Don't give a rip about what they say. We believe what the Bible says. And so that's where the term Baptist comes from that is associated with anyone today. So don't be confused.

[44:37] Here's why I'm saying this stuff. I'll close with this. Just get a little nasty. There are so many Baptists, independent, fundamental Baptists, that think that they come from John the Baptist.

[44:52] I've heard them say it. I've read it in their articles. They send out periodicals. I'm a Baptist, best God, because John the Baptist was the first Baptist. And the truth is, no, you're not.

[45:03] You're just ignorant of the Bible and you're ignorant of church history. John the Baptist was not the first Baptist. John the Baptist did not believe the Bible the way you and I believe the Bible.

[45:15] He did not even have it. And he did not believe on Jesus Christ in the same way either, to be quite frank. I mean, things were just different. There was no death, burial, and resurrection. John never saw Jesus Christ die on the cross.

[45:28] He had his head cut off long before that, right? Okay. So there's some differences to be noted. And, you know, we can't get into all that. Well, this is enough.

[45:39] But it's the fault of Baptists today that don't know what they're talking about, that preach that would come from John the Baptist. And I don't want you to be confused by that. So when we see John show up, it is not the author of this book.

[45:52] That's a different John. And this John we're reading about in verse 7, the man sent from God, whose name was John, is the one that's baptizing, the one that preaches to Herod, the one that gets his head cut off. The other John, he doesn't even mention his name.

[46:06] He says he's the disciple whom Jesus loved. We saw that last week. Okay. So we ought to stop there. We'll try to get more scripture next time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[46:17]  Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.