Latest / CCC West Covina / May I Present Jesus (Part 2)

Transcript

May I Present Jesus (Part 2) · CCC West Covina

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Take your only offensive weapon, the Sword of the Spirit, and
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turn with me to the Book of Matthew.
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Say, wait a minute, I thought we're in the Book of John.
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We are. But I'm going to introduce to
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you John one one to five by taking you to the Wednesday of
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Passion Week. Last week we introduced to you
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John 1 by taking you to Monday of Passion Week, because Monday
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was a day of recognition. Monday was a day of coronation.
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It was a day of the triumphal entry in which our Lord wrote
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into Jerusalem. It was also a day of compassion,
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for there he he wept over the city.
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The next day, Tuesday, would be a day of indignation in which he
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would come and he would curse the fig tree and he would
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cleanse the temple. But on Wednesday, Wednesday was
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a day of instruction. Wednesday was a day of
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confrontation. Wednesday was a day of
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questions. You see, by the time you come to
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Wednesday, the religious leaders, their animosity had
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grown to such a high level, they could no longer stand even the
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the sight of Jesus, let alone the name of Jesus.
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We shared with you last week that in John chapter 12, they
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were so angry with one another because they were unable to keep
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people from following Jesus. That had been their mission for
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a few years now. But now you come to Wednesday of
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of Passion week and they are furious with what is happening
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with the Lord. After all, the day earlier he
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came and, and cleanse the temple, their holy place.
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And so they were thinking of ways to trap him, thinking of
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ways in which they could, they could draw the people away from
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the Lord. And so the Herodians gathered
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together, the Sadducees gathered together and the the Pharisees
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gathered together to formulate questions to stump Jesus.
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So the Herodians come first and they they ask a question that
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deals with things politically. Then the Sadducees come and they
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ask a question dealing with things theologically.
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And then the Pharisees come and they ask a question dealing with
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things spiritually. And of course Christ answers
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them all perfectly. They are dumbfounded.
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But then you come to a place where the Lord is going to turn
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the tables on the religious establishment.
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He's now going to ask them a question, and the question he
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asks is the only question that matters.
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The question he asks is the most important question ever asks of
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man. He knows that.
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And so he's going to ask them a particular question.
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And in giving the question, it's almost as if it's a, a final
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message, a a final invitation to them.
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Because within the realm of the question and within the realm of
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the answer to the question is the answer to their eternal
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destiny. And so he is going to ask them a
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question in terms of a final message, a final invitation to
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all those who are as rejecters. They might somehow come to a
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place of redemption. So you find this question in
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Matthew's Gospel, the 22nd chapter, the 41st verse.
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It says now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus
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asked them a question. Now this is the the final
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question. This is the last question that
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he asks and there will be no more questions asked of Jesus
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after this one. So this is the last question of
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his earthly ministry. He's asking it, but no one, as
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we'll see in a few moments, will dare to ask him any more
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questions. So he has them together and he
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says, What do you think about the Christ?
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Whose Son is he? That question is the only
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question that matters, for how you answer that question will
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determine your eternal destiny. You get it wrong, your soul will
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be damned forever. You get it right, your soul will
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be in glory forever. So it's important that you get
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the answer right. The question is, whose Son is
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the Christ? In other words, who is the
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Christ? Who is the Messiah?
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That's the question. And you will note the answer
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comes rapidly. It comes quickly because you
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see, the religious establishment want to let the people in the
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crowd know that they are smart, that they know the answer to
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Jesus's question. He knew the answer to their
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questions. They want to say that they're on
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equal par with Jesus and they can answer just as quickly and
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as rapidly as he did. So it says they said to him,
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David's, that's right, that's correct.
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That would be a right answer. It would be an incomplete
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answer. It would be a deficient answer,
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but yet it would be a correct answer because the Messiah would
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be the Son of David. That's true in the Old Testament
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taught that over and over again. Second Samuel Chapter 7, Psalm
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89, Amos Chapter 9, and the list goes on and on and on that the
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Messiah would be the Son of David.
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They are willing to recognize the humanity of the Messiah, but
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not recognize the divinity of the Messiah.
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So the question would always be, did the Jews know that the
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Messiah would be divine? Does the Old Testament prove
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that the Messiah is God? Well, we told you last week,
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Isaiah 9 his name should be called El Gabor, the mighty God.
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He's also the everlasting Father or the father of eternity.
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Micah 5 verse #2 He's from everlasting to everlasting.
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Jeremiah 23 verse #6 says he's going to be called the branch,
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which is the Lord of righteousness.
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So the Old Testament clearly taught that the Messiah would be
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divine, the Messiah would be God.
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But when they answer the question, the answer only
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partially, not completely. They answer that yes, the
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Messiah will be the sun of David.
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So now what Christ does is very unique because he's going to
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take a passage of Scripture from the Psalms, the Psalm that's
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quoted the most in the New Testament.
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All three gospels quoted. Hebrews quotes it twice.
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Stephen quotes it or Peter quotes it in Acts chapter 3.
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It's quoted by Paul in First Corinthians chapter 15.
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It's Psalm 110. The most quoted Psalm in the New
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Testament is a Messianic Psalm. And every Jew without exception
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would know Psalm 110 was messianic.
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They would know that. And so Christ is going to take
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the Scriptures, the word of God, and he's going to explain to
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them the Messiah. Listen to what he says he said
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to them. Then how does David in the
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Spirit, queen of Mark's Gospel in the Holy Spirit, meaning
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under divine inspiration? David is going to speak under
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divine inspiration by the Holy Spirit of God.
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Then how does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying,
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The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your
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enemies beneath your feet. If David then calls him Lord,
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how is he his son? It's brilliant question.
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He's got them in a quandary because they're willing to admit
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that the Messiah is humanly the Son of David, but not divinely
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the Son of God, and yet their scriptures taught very clearly
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that the Messiah would be divine.
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He has them between a rock and a hard place.
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He asked them, how can this possibly be So he's going to
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quote from the Old Testament and he says simply, the Lord Yave
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said to my Lord Adonai. Now Adonai refers to an earthly
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Lord, but not always. But we know who Yave is.
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He's the Lord God of Israel. So when you read the Hebrew, it
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says Yahweh, the Lord said to my Adonai Lord.
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But the Greek Septuagint translates it Curious Lord both
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words. Every time Yahweh is translated
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into the Greek in the Old Testament, without exception,
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it's always translated curious every single time.
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And so in the Greek it says the Lord curious said to my Lord
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curious, meaning that the Lord is divine, David's Lord is
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divine, very, very important to understand this.
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And so he says, sit at my right hand.
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That's a, that's a, that's a place of equal position, equal
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authority, because it speaks of the equality of the sun until I
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put your enemies beneath your feet.
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A total execution or subjugation of his enemies.
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If David then calls him Lord, how?
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How is he a son? You see, everybody around them
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knew that Jesus was the son of David.
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They knew that in fact, the Pharisees never argued the point
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that Jesus was the descendant of David.
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They couldn't because the genealogical records that were
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kept in the temple would prove that he was a descendant of
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David through Joseph because of Solomon, and instead of David
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through Mary because of Nathan, his other son.
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So physically and legally, he was a descendant of David.
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He is a son of David, but is he the son of David?
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Is he the Messiah? That's the question.
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And you have the two blind men in Jericho who cry out to him.
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Have mercy on us, son of David. You have the two blind men in
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Galilee say the same thing. Have mercy on us, Son of David.
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You have the Canaanite woman who begs for mercy from the Son of
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David. We have on Monday the crowds
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yelling hosanna to the Son of David.
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So we had the crowds recognizing that Jesus is the Son of David.
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He is their Messiah. So they think so.
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They hope he is. But they reject him a few days
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later because he doesn't pull off politically what they think
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he needs to pull off and militarily what they think he
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needs to pull off in order to relieve them from Roman
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oppression. And so here is the Lord turning
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the tables on the Pharisees and asking them the all important
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question. Whose son is the Christ, the
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Messiah, David's Son, Right? Sorta.
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But you got to get the fact that he's also the Son of God.
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He is Lord, He is King. He's not even talking
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specifically about himself, although he is.
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He's specifically speaking about Old Testament prophecy because
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David says this before the son is born.
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David says this prophetically. David is saying the Lord said to
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my Lord prophetically. See.
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So he's giving a prophecy about the coming Messiah, calling his
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son Lord, calling his son God. Notice what it says next.
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It says no one was able to answer him a word, nor did
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anyone dare from that day on to ask him another question.
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Remember the last invitation of the Bible, Revelation chapter
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22. The last invitation given by God
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centers around the same theme, the identity of the Christ.
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Revelation 2216 I, Jesus and the root and offspring of David.
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I Jesus am the source of David's life in line.
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And I, Jesus am the son of David's life and line.
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The bright morning star. The invitation centers around
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the identity of the Messiah. Because you see, when you give
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an invitation to people, you must explain to them who the
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Messiah is. That's why John says many other
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signs did Jesus do that were not recorded in this book.
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You see, the Pharisees had seen all the credentials of the
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Messiah. They could not deny any of the
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miracles that Jesus had performed.
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They had seen all the miracles. They could not deny them.
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So John comes along and John 20 and says many other signs did
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Jesus do that are not written in this book, but these were
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written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
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Messiah, the Son of God. That's why John wrote his
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gospel. Now remember all the Gospels
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uniquely write about one phrase in the Old Testament and then
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expand that phrase we talked about two weeks ago.
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Let's see if you remember Matthew.
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Matthew writes specifically about a phrase in Zechariah 9
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verse #9 which says behold your king when he comes into
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Jerusalem on the backside of a donkey.
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Behold your king. So what does he do?
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His whole gospel is about the royalty of the Messiah.
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And then you come to Mark's gospel and Mark takes one phrase
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from Isaiah 42, one that says, Behold, my servant.
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And John's whole gospel is centered around the servanthood
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of the Messiah, emphasizing the humility of the Messiah.
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And then you come to Luke's gospel and Luke takes one phrase
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from Zechariah chapter 6, verse #12 which says behold a man.
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And Luke expands on that whole phrase, emphasizing the humanity
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of the Messiah. Then you come to John's Gospel.
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In John's gospel, he takes one phrase from the book of Isaiah,
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the 34th chapter, Behold Your God.
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And he takes 21 chapters and unfolds for us the fact that the
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Messiah is God. This is so important to
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understand. You need to grasp all this
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because the, the, the, the, the way the Spirit of God puts
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everything together in such a marvelous and such a miraculous
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kind of way. Help us understand the true
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identity of, of the Son of David, the, the Son of God.
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So you come to John's gospel and John's whole theme is behold
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your God. This is God in the flesh.
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That's why he says in in John chapter one verse #1 in the
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beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word
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was God. He was in the beginning with
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God. All things came into being
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through him and apart from him nothing came into being that has
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come into being. In Him was life, and the life
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was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness
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and the darkness did not comprehend it.
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May I present to you Jesus and all of us splendor and all of us
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glory and all of his beauty, because that's what John does.
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John is like the the Holy of holies of New Testament books.
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John is, is is all about presenting God and, and, and in
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John chapter 17, you, you have that high priestly prayer where
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deity is communicating with deity, the intimacy between the
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Father and the Son. There there is no more holier
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book in the New Testament than John's gospel because it
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portrays to us, presents to us the beauty of the living God.
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Now the whole Bible is about the Lord.
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The whole Bible presents to us the Christ, but John's gospel,
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unique and that it is, presents to us the beauty of the Lord.
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Behold your God, Isaiah 714 Emmanuel, God with us John 114
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the word became flesh. That's that's the Christmas
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story in one sentence. The word became flesh.
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God with us over in Luke's gospel, Luke chapter 1, it says
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as the Angel speaks to Mary, verse 31 and behold, you will
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conceive in your womb and bear a son to the name of Jesus.
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He will be great and he will be called the Son of the Most High
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and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.
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He will reign over the House of Jacob Forever.
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This Kingdom will have no end. Mary said to the Angel.
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How can this be since I am a virgin?
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The Angel answered said to her. The Holy Spirit will come upon
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you, and the power of the Most High will over shadow you, and
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for that reason the holy child shall be called the Son of God.
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Behold your God. So John says these things are
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written that you might believe over 90 times.
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John uses the word believe because the essence of salvation
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is believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Do you believe in who he is? Do you believe in the identity
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of the Messiah? Do you believe that he is Son of
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God, Son of man? Do you believe in the humanity
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and the divinity of Christ? He is the God Man.
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He's 100% God, He's 100% man. He is 200% of something.
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You can't comprehend that. Neither can I because our mind
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only goes to 100%. But he's 200% of something, 100%
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God, 100% may not 50% God and 50% man.
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No, He's 100% man, 100% God. He is God in human flesh.
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So as I present to you Jesus, I present him to you in five
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different ways. Number one, His eternality #2
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His personality #3 His deity #4 His vitality and #5 His
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invincibility. Those are the 1st 5 verses of
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John chapter one. Last week we covered his E
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eternality. In the beginning was the word.
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In the beginning was the word. Now understand this was is the
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imperfect tense of Amy of the verb to be.
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So you can read verses one and two this way.
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In the beginning was continuously the word and the
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word was continuously with God, and the word was continually
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God. That's literally how it reads
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the word Amy, a very important word.
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Why? You know, if you've been with us
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long enough that we take you all the way back when Christ talks
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about the fact that he is the great I am, right, ego.
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Amy is the Greek translation of those four Hebrew consonants
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that make up the name of God in Exodus chapter 3 when Moses
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asked who shall I say sent me? And the Lord God of Israel says,
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tell him that I am sent you. Tell them to be sends you tell
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them that the eternal being sends you.
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That's his memorial name. His memorial name, students
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around his eternality. He always is because He always
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was and always will be. The eternal nature of God is
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important. Why?
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Because Jesus said in John 824, Unless you believe that I am,
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unless you believe that I am eternal being, you will die in
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your sins. Do you have to believe in the
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eternality of God to be saved? Answer Yes.
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Yes, you must believe in the eternal nature of the living
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God, that He is a God who is and was and always will be.
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You cannot deny the eternality of God because that's who He is.
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Unless you believe that I am, I am continuous, I am eternal.
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You will die in your sins. Unless you believe that I am the
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God who spoke to Moses in Exodus chapter 30, Exodus chapter 3,
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from the burning Bush, you will die in your sins.
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I am the God that's always being.
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That's who I am. And so John says in the
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beginning was continuously the Word.
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In other words, before the beginning, When did the
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beginning begin? Good question.
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Genesis one verse #1 in the beginning, God.
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So in the beginning, in the beginning God had already
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existed. He was existing continuously.
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In the beginning was the creation of time and space.
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If you're not a part of time and space, you are preexistent.
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You exist before time and space. If you exist before time and
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space, that means you are eternal.
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So before the beginning began, the word always continuously was
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and is. That's the point, the eternality
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of God. This is crucial to understand.
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Now listen to this, this is so good.
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In the beginning was the Word. Now why did he use the word?
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Why did he say in the beginning was Jesus?
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That would be pretty simple, wouldn't it?
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In the beginning was the Son, SON?
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Why didn't he say that? Why did they say in the
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beginning was the word Lagos? Why?
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Why would he do that? Well, he's going to appeal to
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the Jewish mind. He's going to appeal to the
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Greek mind. He's going to appeal to those
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who are engaged philosophically, the Greeks.
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He's going to appeal to those who are engaged theologically.
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The Jews, OK. To the Greeks, Lagos was an
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entity. It was a impersonal force.
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To the Greeks, they believed if there's a creation, then there
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was a cause to the creation, but the cause was a personal force,
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an impersonal force, not some person.
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So they named it Lagos. And John comes along and says, I
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want you to know that from the very beginning, before time ever
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began, the Lagos existed. The Lagos was there and the
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Lagos really is a person because the Lagos became flesh and dwelt
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among us. To the Jewish mind, the Lagos
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was the revelation of God. It was the word of God Speaking
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of the authority of God, the authenticity of God, the
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reliability of God, the veracity of God.
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So to the Jewish mind, Lagos spoke about the word itself, how
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the word was an expression of God.
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That's the only way he knew God was when God spoke.
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So that's how they came to understand who God was.
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So God would give revelation. God would speak because no man
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has seen God at any time. So when God would speak, he
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would exhibit himself. He would explain himself that
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that's why way back in Exodus chapter 34, as you recall, when
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Moses said I want, I want to see your glory.
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And the Lord said I can't let you see my glory and live.
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But the Lord did say this. He said in verse #5 of chapter
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34 of Exodus. The Lord descended in the cloud
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and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the
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Lord. So Moses is calling upon the
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name of the Lord. He wants the Lord to show
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himself. Then the Lord passed by in front
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of him and proclaimed. God said something, He
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proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, compassion, gracious so to
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anger, and a bounty, and loving kindness and truth.
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Who keeps loving kindness for thousands?
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Who for gives iniquity, transgression and sin?
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Yet he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.
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Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on
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the grandchildren to the third and 4th generations, Moses made
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haste to bow down, bow low toward the earth and worship.
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He worshipped based on what was said, not based on what he saw.
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The Lord God proclaimed his glory, the Lord God spoke his
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glory. So that's how Moses then would
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bow and worship him, because he bowed under the authority of
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God's revelation. So to to a Jew, the Lagos was
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the revelation of God. To the Jew, the Word of the Lord
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is the expression of God to man and Jesus Christ is God speaking
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to us. Jesus Christ is the fullest
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revelation of God. That's why the Word became flesh
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and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, we beheld His beauty,
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we beheld the, the, the, the, the person of God expressed in
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Jesus Christ who is the exact representation of the Lord.
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And so that's why he uses the word.
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In the beginning was the word in the beginning was Lagos telling
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the Greeks, listen, the Lagos is not an impersonal force.
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It's truly an individual. It's a person.
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It's it's God in the flesh telling the telling the the
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Jewish audience that Jesus Christ, the word is the complete
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and full revelation of his glory.
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And John would say we beheld that glory.
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We're able to see the person of God.
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So important to understand what John is conveying to us.
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Revelation 1913 Jesus Christ returns his name, and by that
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name he is called the Word of God.
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That's his name, the word of God.
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In other words, it's, it's like when Jesus comes again, he's
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also called faithful and true because his word is faithful,
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His word is true. And so when it, when it, when he
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comes again the second time and his name is the word of God,
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it's as if he is saying, I told you already, I told you
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everything about my presence. I told you everything about my
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first coming. I told you everything about my
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second coming. I am the word of God.
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The inspired word is the Incarnate word and the Incarnate
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word is the inspired word. You must take them both the same
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because the Incarnate Word gives us the inspired Word and
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therefore John says in the beginning was the Word and the
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Word is God. He's God in the flesh.
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In the beginning there always existed the Word.
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Before time and space were created, the Word was in
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existence, speaking about the pre existence of the Word, the
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eternality of the Word. So John presents them first of
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all in the beauty of his eternality.
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Second of all, he presents them in the beauty of his
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personality. Listen very carefully to what
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the Bible says next. In the beginning was the Word,
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and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
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He was in the beginning with God.
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Twice it says that the Word was in the beginning with God.
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When the beginning began, the eternal 1 already existed.
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He existed outside of time and space because he's a creator of
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time and space. So in the beginning the Word
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existed as God, and he existed with God.
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So the Word existed eternity past as God, as the eternal God,
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and the eternal God existed with the eternal God.
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Speaking of the triune nature of God, that God is 3 and 1.
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Here you have two of them. He is 3 and 1.
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He is 1 God. That manifests Himself in three
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distinct persons. And John, for the very outset
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only speaks not just of His, his eternality, but of His
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personality, that He is unique and distinct person.
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He is one of three very important to understand that for
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instance, in the beginning God, this is one one word for God is
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Elohim. The I am ending means that it's
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plural, but it doesn't say in the beginning God's.
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It says in the beginning God right created the heavens and
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the earth. But note this.
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The Bible says in Justice 126 let us make man in our image.
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Why doesn't God say let me make man in my image?
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He says let us make God in our image.
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Why? Because God is in a relationship
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with himself. Who is God speaking to?
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Who is God speaking to in the beginning God, let us make man
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in our image. In fact, tell me in your Bible
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to the book of Titus, Titus chapter one, first one, listen
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to what it says. Paul, a bond servant of God and
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an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God
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and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness
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in the hope of eternal life, which God who cannot lie,
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promised long ages ago or promised before time began.
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Let me ask you a question. Who did God make a promise to
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before time began? He didn't make it to the angels
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because they weren't created yet.
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They were created somewhere between Genesis 11 and Genesis
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12. Man wasn't created to day 6.
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So who did God make a promise to?
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Before time began? God made a promise.
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Who did he make a promise to turn over to?
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Second Timothy one, Second Timothy one verse #9 it says
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God. God saved us and called us with
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a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His
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own purpose and grace. Which was granted us in Christ
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Jesus from all eternity, or the exact same phrase in Titus one
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verse #2 before time began. So God had a purpose before time
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began, and in that purpose He made a promise.
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But who did He make the promise to before time began?
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In the beginning was the Word, the eternal Word of God.
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In the beginning was the Word, and the eternal Word existed
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with the eternal God. He was face to face with God.
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Speaking of the equality of the nature of God the Son and God
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the Father. Face to face means equal.
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So you have the proof of the triune nature of God beginning
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in John's gospel, because these things are written that you
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might believe in who Jesus Christ is.
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He's the second person of the triune nature of God.
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In the beginning was the eternal word that always existed, that
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was not created during time and space, because He was the one
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who created time and space. So he had to be eternal, and He
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existed with God. The eternal God existed with the
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eternal God. Speaking of the eternal nature
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of the God, speak of the fact that Jesus is God in the flesh.
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This is so important to grasp. Why?
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Because people will deny the deity of Christ.
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They will deny the reality of the Messiah in the true identity
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of the Messiah. And that's why I think I told
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you a couple weeks ago, every cult has a Jesus, right?
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But Christianity doesn't have a Muhammad.
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Christianity doesn't have a Joseph Smith.
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Christianity doesn't have Buddha, right?
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But every cult has Jesus. They have a Jesus.
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He's a prophet. He's a good man.
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But they have a Jesus. Why?
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Because Satan is a master of disguise, master of deception.
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He wants to draw you away from the true Jesus.
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But only Christianity has the true Jesus, the one who existed
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before time and space, the eternal God himself.
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That's who he is. And so the Bible is very clear
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about the eternality of God. The Bible is very clear about
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the personality of God. He existed with God.
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All that to say is that God was in a relationship with himself
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before time began. And the whole plan, the whole
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purpose, was to redeem a bride for a son.
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The whole plan of redemption wasn't conjured up after the
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fall. The whole plan of redemption,
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the whole plan of the cross, wasn't something that God
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made-up because of sin. No, it was all a part of the
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plan. It was all a part of Plan A from
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the very beginning, before time began in the eternity past.
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Our names are written in the Lamb's book of Life in eternity
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past, before time ever began. Think about that.
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God had a purpose and a plan to redeem a bride for his Son.
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And in that redemptive process, you, me, and those who believe
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in the Lord Jesus Christ, we've become a part of that bride.
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That's what the Bible says. If you confess with your mouth
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Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him
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from the dead, you will be saved.
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Why? Because one day every knee will
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bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
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Jesus Christ is yave, the God of Israel.
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Every tongue will confess that. So when Christ gathers these
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religious leaders together, they're they're already gathered
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together around him and the multitude is gathered there on
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the Temple Mount. He asked them the only question
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that matters, whose son is the Christ?
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Do you understand him as Son of David and Son of God, or just
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Son of David? Do you see the Son of David as
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divine as the Lord that existed before time began?
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Because David would speak prophetically before the Son was
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ever born, calling him Lord under the inspiration of the
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Spirit of God. That's the only question that
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matters. I don't know why you're here
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today. I don't know what brought you
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here today. I don't know who dragged you
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here today, but you're here today.
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You're here today for one specific reason that you would
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hear John one verse one and verse 2.
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Next week we get to verse 3. But the important thing is that
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the Lord wants you to know his identity.
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That's why we entitled the sermon, May I Present Jesus.
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You need to know who Jesus is because without Him you're lost.
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With Him you have life. And so you need to understand
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the identity of the Christ and the Lord Brought you here today
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to hear the sermon on the eternality of the Son, the
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personality of the eternality of that Son who stood face to face
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with the eternal God as eternal God.
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Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal God?
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Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of David?
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Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah of Israel, the
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Messiah of God? Do you believe in who Jesus
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Christ is? Told you last week, there are so
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many people who preach another Jesus, but not the true Jesus.
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Here we present to you the true Jesus of the Scriptures.
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My prayer is that everyone of you would know him personally,
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intimately, because he's forgiven you of your sins.
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He's wiped them all away, and you stand righteous before him.
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Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for today.
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We thank you for Your word, the truth of it, and how it is.
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You make it so clear and obvious to all of us.
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Lord, our prayer is that we would take your word and apply
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it to our lives. And for everyone who is here
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today, Lord, please I pray for their eternal destiny.
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If someone is here and does not know you, may today be the day
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of their salvation. May your spirit do it's
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convicting. Work in their hearts that they
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might come to saving faith. And for those who do know you,
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Lord, arm them with the truth of your word.
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So when they come across people who deny your deity, who deny
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your eternality, who deny your veracity, they would be able to
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take them to the scriptures and say this is what the word of the
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Lord says. You've given us the sword, the
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sword of the Spirit, which is our offensive weapon.
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May we use it for the glory of your name until you come again,
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as you most surely will in Jesus name.