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Gospel John chapter 1 begin an exposition of the gospel 
according to John. I'll read the first 18 verses, 
and then we'll pray, and then we'll look at some detail in 
verses 1 to 5. So beginning in John 1 at verse 
1. In the beginning was the Word, 
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the 
beginning with God. All things were made through 
him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him 
was life, and the life was the light of men. and the light shines 
in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There 
was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came 
for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all through 
him might believe. He was not that light, but was 
sent to bear witness of that light, that was the true light 
which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was 
in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world 
did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own 
did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, 
to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those 
who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor 
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld 
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, 
full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and 
cried out, saying, This was He of whom I said, He who comes 
after me is preferred before me, for He was before me. And 
of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the 
law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through 
Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. 
The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He 
has declared Him. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our 
Father in heaven, we thank you for the written word of the living 
and true God. We thank you as well for the incarnate word that 
John sets forth in this prologue. We ask now for the ministry and 
the aid of the Holy Spirit. We pray that he would guide us 
and shine the light upon our blessed Savior, and cause us 
to reflect upon the glory of our triune God, even Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit. Again, forgive us for all sin, 
and anything that darkens our understanding, illuminate us 
by the power and the ministry and the presence of your Holy 
Spirit. And we pray this in the name 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. We want to spend a bit 
of time on the introduction. Typically, we have a sermon introducing 
a book. I thought rather we jump right 
into the prologue, but I do think it's necessary to introduce the 
gospel according to John. It was written by John the Apostle. John the Apostle was set apart 
by our Lord as one of the initial disciples, according to Matthew 
chapter 4, with the expressed purpose to be a fisher of men. He was set apart as an apostle 
according to Matthew chapter 10 verses 1 to 4. He had a brother 
by the name of James and they were the sons of Zebedee. They're 
referred to as the sons of thunder in Mark chapter 3 at verse 17. That means something like tumultuous 
fellows. They were men, they were men's 
men and they didn't shrink back from doing what was necessary 
in terms of their work or in terms of their ministry. As well, 
what we have in terms of John is that he had a close and intimate 
association with our Lord Jesus. Not that the others didn't, but 
you see on two occasions in particular, the Transfiguration and Gethsemane, 
that Peter, James, and John went with Jesus. They accompanied 
him on those particular details. As well, in the fourth gospel, 
in John's gospel, we find that John himself is the beloved disciple. He is the one that laid his head 
upon Jesus' bosom in the upper room. Now, John as gospel, relative 
to the other three gospel accounts, is a bit different. different. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called 
the Synoptic Gospels, and that word synoptic means something 
like view something together, and that's precisely what Matthew, 
Mark, and Luke do. They give us the same narratives, 
a bit of difference in terms of placement, in terms of the 
theology that each of those authors want us to get, but they are 
very similar in nature and in structure. John has some of the 
same subject matter, but John does operate sort of on his own 
relative to the structure of his gospel. Now, in terms of 
the purpose, we have an apologetic purpose. That means a defense 
purpose. John is setting forth Jesus as 
the Son of God, Jesus as God himself. He does that here in 
the prologue in John 1, 1-18. But as well, he ends the gospel 
record on that high note as well in the confession of Thomas when 
he says, And, my God, along the way there are seven signs that 
Jesus performs in this gospel record. These are given to confirm 
his Messiahship. He changes the water into wine 
in chapter 2. He heals the noble man's son 
in chapter 4. He heals a crippled man in chapter 
5. He feeds the 5,000 in chapter 6. He walks on the water in chapter 
6. He heals a man born blind in 
chapter 9, and he raises Lazarus from the dead in chapter 11. 
And in each of these instances, or most of these instances, I 
think there is one exception, you'll see that one of the reasons 
behind it was that person's might believe that Christ is the Messiah, 
the Son of the living God. And that then leads us to that 
grand purpose stated by John himself in John 20 at verses 
30 and 31. He says, and truly Jesus did 
many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not 
written in this book. But these are written that you 
may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that 
believing you may have life in His name. So there is an evangelistic 
purpose in terms of the book of John. But it's not just evangelism. And in fact, I would say evangelism 
avails to the people of God as well. In 1 John, John ends that 
epistle by saying that he wrote these things so that you who 
believe would continue to believe in His name. The Christian needs 
the evangel, the Christian needs the gospel, the Christian needs 
constant supplies of the life, death, and resurrection of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. This dichotomy or this idea that 
the church is only the place where sinners are supposed to 
get saved is wrong. It is the place where sinners 
are supposed to get saved and where the saints are to grow 
in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus 
Christ. It's not an either-or, it is a both-and. It is both 
things must take place in the context of the church as specified 
by our Lord in the Great Commission. Go, therefore, make disciples, 
teach those disciples that have been made. That is the order 
in the Great Commission, and so evangelistic activity has 
benefit for not only the non-people of God, but for the people of 
God as well. One of the things that ought 
to encourage us and stir us up and enable us to persevere is 
fresh views of the glory of our Redeemer. fresh views of the 
exalted Christ who came down from heaven for us men and for 
our salvation. To get a view of that is to hopefully 
help us to press on in the midst of the world that we find ourselves 
in. Now, with reference to the Gospel 
of John, it breaks down into four parts. The first is the 
prologue. John 1, 1 to 18. Secondly, you 
have the book of signs from chapter 1, verse 19 to chapter 12, verse 
50. And then you have the book of 
the passion beginning in chapter 13 at verse 1 and going to chapter 
20 at verse 31. And then chapter 21 functions 
as an epilogue. So you have a prologue, you have 
the book of the signs, you have the book of the passion, and 
then you have an epilogue. That's the broad structure that 
will follow as we pursue this study. Now, in terms of the prologue 
itself, it deserves its own introduction. The Gospel of Matthew begins 
with a genealogy to show us that Christ is the seed of Abraham 
and the son of David. Luke, in his genealogy, connects 
Jesus to Adam. And I think the theology driving 
that is that Jesus is the last Adam who comes for us on a rescue 
mission and does what Adam the first failed to do. But when 
we come to the prologue of John, he doesn't start in a stable 
in Bethlehem. He doesn't connect Jesus to Abraham 
and to David. He doesn't even connect Jesus 
to Adam, but rather he goes back, as it were, to the beginning 
and shows us that at the beginning, Christ was. So he introduces 
us to the divine Messiah. He introduces us to a lofty and 
exalted view. He stresses, not in the first 
place, the humanity of our Lord, but he stresses the divinity 
of our Lord. The fact that the second person 
of the Trinity came down from heaven and he assumed our humanity 
with all of the essential properties and the common infirmities thereof, 
and yet without sin. He does that in order to save 
us from our sin. And so John shows us this glory 
of Christ for the good of our souls. And as we consider this 
prologue in verses 1 to 18, it specifically highlights in the 
first place the divinity of the Word, verses 1 to 5. And then 
it goes on secondly to show us the mission of the Word in verses 
6 to 13. And then it highlights or demonstrates 
the incarnation of the Word in verses 14 to 18. So essentially, 
the one described by John, who is very God of very God, in verses 
1 to 5, comes to save his people from their sins, as given to 
us in verses 6 to 13. Verses 14 to 18 explains how 
it was the case. How does this one who was in 
the beginning with God, who was in the beginning God, how does 
he come down to save his people from their sins? That's why John 
shines the light upon the incarnation of the Word in verses 14 to 18. Now, the theology in John 1, 
1 to 18 is rich. It is, in a sense, the Holy of 
Holies in terms of the Bible. And so we need to be very careful 
as we move our way through this passage. When it comes to the 
doctrine of the Trinity, which this is certainly reflective 
of, a careful articulation of the truth is absolutely crucial. 
And that means holding on with firm hands to the terminology 
that has been utilized in the church. Whenever the church has 
let go of the terminology used in discussions concerning the 
Trinity, they have more often than not sacrificed the doctrine 
of the Trinity. There's going to be big words 
this morning. There is no shrinking back from 
it. I will try to describe or define 
the words that are utilized, but there is an insistence, at 
least on my part, to hold fast to what the Bible says, to what 
the fathers said, to what the medieval theologians said, to 
hold on to what the reformers said, to hold on to what our 
confession of faith says, because it accurately reflects the doctrine 
of the Christian trinity. With reference to this, we need 
to hold fast and we need to hold firm. There is a whole lot of 
departure going on today in Protestantism with reference to the Trinity. 
There's a whole lot of departure going away from who Jesus is, 
the doctrine of Christology within Protestantism today. And we cannot 
let that happen. So again, if you miss the definition, 
if something is a bit of a melon scratcher, if something goes 
over your head, you can call me, you can write me, you can 
carrier pigeon me, I will send you the notes, I can point you 
to some good resources, so that we get the doctrine of the Trinity 
proper, so that we get the proper understanding of it, and we don't 
end up in a heretical position. One man makes this observation, 
the prologue is necessary to the gospel. as the gospel is 
necessary to the prologue. This history, what we find in 
the gospel, explains the theology, and the theology interprets the 
history. So John wants us to not only 
see that Christ came to save, but who the Christ is that came 
to save us. When it comes to discussions 
concerning the Trinity, we make a distinction between God as 
He is in Himself. We call that in Latin, ad intra. That simply means the internal 
relations that are true of God. And then there's ad extra, or 
external relations, how God relates to the creation. And so when 
it comes to John's Gospel, the format underscores for us that 
before we understand God's relation to creation, we need to first 
understand God. Before we read in verse 29 in 
chapter 1, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of 
the world, we are given this blessed snapshot of who that 
Lamb of God is intrinsically, or inherently, or who He is as 
the second person of the Trinity. So when it comes to this ad intra 
or ad extra within Trinitarian discussion, it used to be known 
as the ontological Trinity, who God is in himself. That is now 
identified as the imminent Trinity, though I prefer the language 
of ontological. and then that is God in himself, 
and then there is what is called the economic trinity, how God 
relates to his creation, the economy, the oikonomia of salvation. The older writers did that. They 
distinguished it by theologia, which is God in himself, and 
then oikonomia, which is economy, how God functions or how God 
acts, rather, with reference to the creation. And so John 
does that. John establishes that for us. Here is the Word, here is what 
the Word comes to do, and here is how the Word came to do it. 
And then the emphasis is upon us men and our salvation. So the use of specific theological 
language is crucial to make sure that we don't end up on the wrong 
side of who God is. It is never ever lost on me, 
in terms of interest and curiosity, how a person spends so much time 
on so many other subjects than who God is. We need to know who 
God is. This is the essence of eternal 
life. Jesus describes it this way in 
John 17, 3. And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, 
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. But 
for many of us, we just want to run to the benefits. We want 
to run to the gift. We want to see what's under the 
tree. We don't really care who gave it. We don't really care 
what he's about. We are rather more interested 
in how it affects me. Well, that is not necessarily 
wicked because the Bible does address how salvation affects 
me, not me, Jim, but all of us. But it also is necessary to understand 
and to behold our God. in His glorious oneness and threeness, 
in His blessed simplicity, and in His blessed triunity. So let's 
turn now to the prologue. We'll look at the first five 
verses, I think, verses 1 to 5, under the heading, The Divinity 
of the Word. And I have five sub-points here. First, the eternity of the word 
with the Father, verse 1a. Secondly, the distinctiveness 
of the word from the Father, in verse 1b. Third, the consubstantiality 
of the word with the Father, in verse 1c. Now, consubstantiality 
simply means of one substance. One substance or essence is God, 
and then we have three subsistences or persons in the Godhead, Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit. So John wants us to understand 
not only the distinctiveness, but the consubstantiality of 
the word with the Father. Fourth, we'll notice the glory 
of the Word with the Father, verse two, simply a reiteration 
of verse one. And then fifthly, and finally 
this morning, the creation of all things by the Word with the 
Father. So notice that John puts Jesus, 
the Word, on the divine side of creation. Jehovah's Witnesses 
like to teach that Jesus is a creature. Jehovah's Witnesses tamper with 
verse 1 in chapter 1, both of which are heretical. You cannot 
tamper with the grammar to yield your particular weird view. Secondly, 
Jesus is not a creature. He's on the divine side in terms 
of creation. So Christ alone with Father and 
Spirit is the creator of the universe. So let's look first 
at the eternity of the Word with the Father in verse 1a. In the 
beginning was the Word. Now the use of the language Word, 
that's kind of an interesting way for John to identify the 
Lord Jesus Christ. John Calvin translates it speech. Gordon Clark translates it logic. But many have wondered why John 
chooses that particular word. The Greek word is logos. The 
Platonists, the Stoics, and the Neoplatonists all use the concept 
of logos, but the apostle, John, most likely uses it in accordance 
with the Old Testament. As one man says, the term denotes 
the word of God as creator of all things. revelatory of God's 
will and sovereignly effective of his decrees concerning human 
history. Now, John also calls Jesus, the 
second person of the Trinity, the Word in 1 John 1 and as well 
in Revelation chapter 19. So the word in John's prologue 
refers to the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, 
our Lord Jesus Christ. As well, we see from the very 
beginning, in the beginning was. That reminds us, or is reminiscent 
of, or harkens back to Genesis chapter 1. In the beginning, 
God created the heavens and the earth. Now it's not just verse 
1 and 2 that corresponds to Genesis 1 and 2, but it's verses 1 to 
5 that correspond to Genesis 1 to 5. You not only have the 
emphasis on creation in Genesis 1, 1 and 2, but you have an emphasis 
on light in Genesis 1, 3 to 5. John picks up the same motif 
and does that with our Lord Jesus in verses 3 to 5 in his prologue. Now, in terms of the meaning 
of the statement, the beginning refers to the creation of the 
world, not to the creation of the Word. Notice that John does 
not say, there was a time when the Son was not. He came into 
being then. That's not John's point. If there 
was a time when the Son was not, as Arius taught, then there was 
a time when the Father was not. and no one wants to go to that 
particular length, so it's best to see this as a reference to 
the beginning of the created world, to the beginning of the 
cosmos, to the beginning that is evidenced to us or envisaged 
in Genesis chapter 1. John Gill says, but by beginning 
is here meant the beginning of the world, or the creation of 
all things, and which is expressive of, notice the point, the eternity 
of Christ. He was in the beginning, as the 
maker of all creatures, and therefore must be before them all. So notice as well the tense of 
the verb that is used. In the beginning was the word. Now the word was there is what's 
called an imperfect. That means continuous action 
in the past. So at the beginning of our world, 
at the beginning of the creation, at the beginning when God spoke 
the cosmos into being, Christ was. He didn't come to be. He wasn't part of the creation. It wasn't as if when the Father 
spoke, out popped the Son. That's not what happened. Christ 
is not creature. Christ is on the divine side 
in terms of creation. The Word was in the beginning 
of the world. This simply means that He was 
already existing when He came to create the world. Matthew 
Poole underscores it this way, for what was in the beginning 
did not then begin to be. Now reflect upon this carefully. When it comes to asking what 
does he come for, this ought to blow our minds. He doesn't 
begin in a stable in Bethlehem. He doesn't begin simply in response 
to what the prophets wrote. He's always been. He is co-eternal 
with the Father. Father, Son, and Spirit is from 
everlasting to everlasting. There never was a time when they 
were not. There never was a time when God did not exist. He has 
always been, and Christ the Word has always been. The Son has, 
or the Word has, co-eternality with the Father Himself. Now 
the movement in the prologue shows us or demonstrates how 
the second person of the Trinity becomes man for us men and for 
our salvation. Notice in verse 10, he was in 
the world and the world was made through him and the world did 
not know him. He was in the world. We might 
ask the question, how does this second person of the Trinity, 
how does this word described in verses one to five, how does 
he end up in the world? Well, that's the beauty of John 
1 14. Notice what the apostle says, the word became flesh and 
dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the 
only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. John 
1.1, He was, in the beginning, He was. He had continuous active 
existence prior to, in eternity, before the creation of the world. And then in verse 14, the word 
becomes. He becomes something in order 
to save us men and to deliver us from the wrath and fury of 
God Almighty. Now, a couple of weeks ago, I 
made a statement concerning 2 Corinthians 8 that I need to clarify in the 
interest of theological precision. I was quoting, at least from 
memory, John Murray, who made the statement that when the sun 
took on our humanity, he became poor through addition. In other 
words, he took on our humanity, so therefore he becomes poor. 
The word addition is improper. It is incorrect. It is not a 
good word to use. And so I want to make sure that 
you understand I am taking seriously the necessity of theological 
distinction. He didn't add to himself. There is a union. We call it 
the hypostatic union between the natures in the one person. Not addition, because that almost 
sounds like something better of God. That's not what obtains. But notice, so in the beginning, 
verse 1 was the Word. Verse 14, and the Word became 
flesh and dwelt among us. So the prologue is tasked with 
explaining to us how the second person of the Trinity comes into 
the world and does what he does on our behalf. But the main point 
in the first clause in John 1.1 is simply this, the co-eternity 
of the Son with the Father. So again, for Jehovah's Witnesses 
who follow that archaic areas, saying that there was a time 
when the sun was not, that is damnable. You cannot maintain 
that and go to heaven. You need to understand, in light 
of what Jesus says in John 8, if you do not believe that I 
am, you will die in your sins. It is crucial that we properly 
understand who Jesus is relative to us and our salvation. The Son is co-eternal with the 
Father. Notice the second clause, the 
distinctiveness of the Word from the Father. Notice what the second 
clause has. And the Word was with God. This is as crucial to maintain 
when we consider the doctrine of the Trinity as is the oneness 
or the singularity of God. Deuteronomy 6, 4, here, O Israel, 
the Lord, our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord 
your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. We 
need to maintain the oneness of God, but we must maintain 
the threeness as well. And this is not contradictory. 
This is not paradoxical. This is not an antinomy. It is 
rather, he is one in one sense, and he is three in another sense. 
And so what John does here is distinguishes the son from the 
father, because that is as crucial to understanding who God is, 
as is to know that he's but one true and living God. There was 
a heretic in the history of the church by the name of Sibelius, 
and that heretic answers in modern theology to what's called modalism, 
that there is this one God who manifests himself or shows himself 
as father and then son and now spirit. The charismatic preacher 
T.D. Jakes teaches that heresy. It's damnable heresy. We not 
only maintain the oneness of God, but the threeness of God. Again, one in one sense, either 
essence or substance, and then three in another sense, subsistence 
or person. So God is one and God is three. The oneness of God, or rather 
the Bible, theology, and theologians in the church have maintained. 
Now here's another bit of language that we need to get in our wheelhouse. 
Have maintained that the eternal relations of origin are what 
distinguishes the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. the 
eternal relations of origin. Dropping that back down to verse 
14, notice what it says concerning Jesus. He is begotten by the 
Father. That is an eternal relation of 
origin. There's similarity or analogy 
in terms of the creature. A father generates or gives birth 
to a son, obviously via his mother. But with reference to it, we 
cannot carry the analogy all the way. These are eternal relations 
of origin. There's never been a time when 
the son was not. There's never been a time when 
the father was not. There's never been a time when 
the spirit was not. So that language, however, these 
eternal relations of origin, or what one man has referred 
to as notions, reflect to us the distinction between the persons. Modalism or Sabellianism is heresy. It is wrong. We're not supposed 
to countenance it. And what John is doing is distinguishing 
in terms of theology for us. In the beginning was the Word, 
and the Word was with God. There is distinction between 
the Father and the Son. And with reference to this, our 
confession of faith is gold. It is beautiful in terms of the 
intra-relations of God. In 2nd London Confession, chapter 
2, paragraph 3, we read, in this divine and infinite being, there 
are three subsistences. The Westminster Confession here 
uses the word persons. Persons isn't bad, it's not wrong, 
but subsistence is better. In this divine and infinite being, 
there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word or Son, 
and the Holy Spirit, of one substance, power and eternity, each having 
the whole divine essence. It's not that you have 33 and 
a third percent is the Father, 33 and a third percent is the 
Son, and 33 and a third percent is the Spirit. No, listen to 
what the Confession says. It correctly identifies what 
the Bible teaches. And let me just say something 
in terms of a corollary with that statement. Some have rejected 
the concept of using theological language like consubstantiality, 
like using substance or essence and subsistence or person. Well, every theologian who came 
out of the gate understood that it's necessary to employ extra 
biblical language. That means language outside of 
the Bible to protect what the Bible says. Biblicism is wrong. That sounds good. Oh, the Bible 
alone. Yeah, but biblicists are most 
often the most heretical on the face of the earth. They do theology 
individually, and they typically end up with Christ as a creature, 
or they end up with a complete misstatement of the understanding 
of the Trinity. The theologians that the church 
has produced have seen that we need to use language outside 
of the Bible at times to protect what the Bible says. Jehovah's 
Witnesses make this claim, no creed but the Bible. Brethren, 
they are wrong at every step of the way relative to the person 
and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So when we come to this 
sort of language, understand it is the reflection, not of 
one guy living out as an island unto himself, but the church. That's the beautiful thing about 
the confessions of faith. They are consensus documents. 
They are confessions from the church, not from individuals. And those confessions of the 
church oftentimes serve as protection against those who say no creed 
but the Bible. So back to our confession. In 
this divine and infinite being, there are three subsistences, 
the Father, the Word, or Son, and the Holy Spirit of one substance, 
power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet 
the essence undivided. Now, it goes on here with the 
notions or with these eternal relations of origin. This is 
how the church, this is how theology distinguishes between the persons. It says, the Father is of none, 
neither begotten nor proceeding. The Son is eternally begotten 
of the Father. The Holy Spirit proceeding from 
the Father and the Son. All infinite, without beginning, 
therefore but one God, who is not to be divided in nature and 
being, but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties 
and personal relations. So when it comes to those properties, 
those relations, or those notions, we typically speak of the Father 
as unbegotten, the Son as begotten, and the Spirit proceeds. The 
technical term is spiration. So those terms protect for us 
the threeness of God. So one substance, three subsistences, 
three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What distinguishes 
those persons? The Father is unbegotten, the 
Son is begotten, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and 
the Son. Again, this may not make your 
light go off over your head, But this is how the church, this 
is how theology has carefully protected the Bible against the 
filthy hands of heretics who deny either the oneness of God 
or deny the threeness of God. You cannot do either and be on 
safe theological grounds. With reference to the doctrine 
of the Trinity, we need to be correct. We need to carefully 
articulate. We need to distinguish, as Turretin 
points out so many times, and as we see patterned by the Apostle 
John. In the beginning was the Word, 
and the Word was with God. So we have, first, the eternity 
of the Word with the Father. Second, the distinctiveness of 
the Word from the Father. Now notice, thirdly, the consubstantiality 
of the Word with the Father. Verse 1c, and the Word was God. Now again, those of you who've 
done any witnessing to Jehovah's Witnesses, or perhaps you have 
a New World translation of the Holy Scriptures, that is a New 
World perversion of the Holy Scriptures. When they say, in 
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the 
Word was a God, and then they use lowercase g, it shows that 
they not only don't know theology, but they don't know grammar. 
There was a man by the name of Colwell, and he identified, he 
didn't develop, but he identified a particular rule that's at play 
here. The emphasis that John is giving is qualitative. What the Word is, is God. That is the emphasis, and that 
is what John points out. The Word is consubstantial with 
the Father. Notice, and the word was God. The Nicene Confession, or rather 
the Nicene Creed, says being of one substance with the Father. That should take us back to that 
confessional definition. One substance or essence in this 
divine being, there are three subsistences. So one in one sense 
and three in another sense. Keep that in your heads, and 
it will help you when you deal with Jehovah's Witnesses or when 
you deal with other sorts of heretics that don't know what 
the Bible teaches concerning who God is. So, in the beginning 
was the Word, and the Word was with God. and the Word was God. We have that blessed reality, 
one in one sense and three in another sense. And John goes 
behind creation, or goes behind the stable in Bethlehem to the 
beginning to shine the light upon the second person of the 
Trinity, the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. And that is His purpose in this 
particular situation. Now notice, fourthly, the glory 
of the Word with the Father. As I said, verse 2 simply repeats 
or rehearses what verse 1 says. It says, He was in the beginning 
with God. Now I'll just quote two good 
theologians on this point. Gil. He says, this is a repetition 
of what is before said, and is made to show the importance of 
the truths before delivered, namely, the eternity of Christ, 
His distinct personality, and proper deity. That's the end 
game of this sermon. That's what you need to get from 
John 1, 1 and 2. You need to understand the eternality 
of Christ, the distinctiveness of Christ from the Father, and 
the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father. If you get 
those three things, you understand John 1, 1 and 2. Matthew Poole 
says essentially the same thing. He says, these words of the evangelist 
are a further confirmation and explication of what the evangelist 
had said before, asserting the eternity of the Son and His relation 
to the Father and oneness of essence with the Father. Let 
me just repeat that because it sort of encapsulates things that 
I said previous. He says, these words of the evangelist 
are a further confirmation and explication of what the evangelist 
had said before. So look at verse 2. He was in 
the beginning with God. That essentially rehearses verse 
1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and 
the Word was God. And then he goes on to say, asserting 
the eternity of the Son and His relation to the Father and oneness 
of essence with the Father. That's how the Son or the Word 
was God, the same essence. So going back to 2nd London Confession, 
in this divine and infinite being, there are three subsistences, 
the Father, the Word or Son, and the Holy Spirit. of one substance, 
power and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet 
the essence undivided. And that hearkens to the doctrine 
of divine simplicity. I don't want to get too far afield 
here, but divine simplicity is simply that God is not made up 
of parts. If God was made up of parts, 
there would be something more ultimate than God. But God is 
simple. We're composite. We're put together 
by God. We are material and immaterial. We are constructive beings. God 
is simple. That's why in our confession 
in chapter 2, at paragraph 2, it says that he's without body. 
That means he's non-corporeal. He is spirit. He's without parts. That means he is simple. He is 
not made up of other things more ultimate to him. And he's also 
without passions. That is the fundamental grammar 
of who God is. And unfortunately, the church 
does not ever consider those particular things or those perfections 
about who God is, because if we did, we would be kept in check 
and not run roughshod over the doctrine of the Trinity and end 
up with an eternally subordinate son. That is a heretical position 
within Protestantism today, that one of the aspects of the Lord 
Jesus that distinguishes Him from the Father is that He's 
subordinate, or that He is somehow inferior to the Father. Well, 
that is not to understand the eternal origins of relation, 
relations of origin, and it's not to understand the doctrine 
of the Trinity. So it is most important that 
we understand not only divine simplicity, but divine triunity. He is both one and three in different 
senses, in different ways. And when we jeopardize that, 
or when we mess up on the terminology, or when we don't give it its 
proper due, then we're going to end up as Jehovah's Witnesses 
or Sabellians or some other heresy that is rampant in the world 
today under the guise of being Christian. Brethren, we have 
to maintain fidelity at this point. We may disagree with a 
lot of other churches on a lot of other things, but one thing 
we must all agree on is the doctrine of who God is. And I think when 
it comes to our confession, I typically refer to that. Understand that 
when it came to chapter 2, with reference of God the Holy Trinity, 
and chapter 8 of Christ the Mediator, the Reformers didn't reform there. The Reformers fell into what 
has been properly identified as classical theism. So the early 
church fathers, though they may have had some oddities, and though 
there may have been some strange emphases in terms of baptism, 
or in terms of the hats that they wore, or in terms of their 
view of soteriology, we can praise God most high that the early 
church took pains to carefully articulate in order to educate 
and to protect the church with reference to the doctrine of 
the Trinity and with reference to the doctrine of who Jesus 
Christ is. When you look at, for instance, 
chapter 8 and paragraph 2 in our confession, it smacks of 
the council at Chalcedon, and that for good reason, because 
the council at Chalcedon did fantastic work in describing 
what we call the hypostatic union of our Lord Jesus Christ, that 
He's one person, two natures, human and divine. He took on 
our humanity with all of its essential properties and all 
the common infirmities thereof, and yet without sin. It was in 
that matter that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. By that union of the humanity 
with the divinity in the one person, Christ is fit as mediator 
to do the work of prophet, priest, and king. to be the one identified 
in John 1.29 as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the 
world, to be that gift given by God according to John. In 
John 3.16, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten 
Son. He didn't come to give the lesser. He didn't come to give the second 
best. When God comes to bless the world, 
He gives His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life. It is crucial for us to 
not only understand how Jesus saves in terms of life, death, 
and resurrection, but the who Jesus is that saves. Because when we get that and 
we understand John 1, 1, and 2, doesn't it make you just stand 
in awe? Doesn't it thrill the heart? 
Doesn't it make your heart just want to leap out of the chest 
cavity and bounce for joy? This God loved us so much that 
he leaves heaven above. He leaves the intimate communion 
with Father and Spirit to take on our humanity, to come into 
this world. Look at what John says in verse 
9. Verse 10, he was in the world and the world was made through 
him and the world did not know him. He came to his own and his 
own did not receive him. This majestic, this darling of 
heaven, this jewel of Emmanuel's land comes into the world, made 
by him, to his own, in context, the covenant nation of Israel, 
and they did not know him. They rejected him. They repudiated 
him. They rebelled against him. They 
ultimately, as we saw last Sunday morning, cried out, away with 
him, away with him, crucify him. But lo and behold, that was the 
plan all along. Because in John 1, 29, behold 
the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Why that 
language, John? Because it's reminiscent of the 
Old Testament. It's reminiscent of the blood 
of bulls and goats. It's reminiscent of the Levitical 
priesthood. It's reminiscent of that fact 
explained well by Michael Morales that Israel was taught through 
the cult And by cult, I don't mean the wicked Jehovah's Witness 
cult, but the religious structure that was in place in terms of 
Old Covenant. They learned that to come as 
sinful men into the presence of a holy God, it must be through 
a bloody knife and a smoking altar. So this Lamb of God takes 
away the sin of the world. But lo and behold, this Lamb 
of God is from everlasting to everlasting. In the beginning 
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with 
God. And yet for us, for not just 
us as creatures, but us as sinful creatures, us as rebel creatures, 
us as fist raising creatures, us as mutinous creatures, us 
as straying creatures. This Christ leaves heaven above 
as it were, takes on our humanity and comes down for us men and 
for our salvation. Brethren, if we get a proper 
view of who Jesus Christ is, if we have a proper understanding 
of who our blessed God is, when it comes to the matter of salvation, 
it should extend our praise and our worship and our adoration 
that much more. Consider that in the guilt, grace, 
A guilt-grace-gratitude paradigm. The grace of God meets us in 
our guilt, and it's the grace of God displayed in marvelous 
beauty. The grace of God displayed in 
the coming of the Son of His love. The Only Begotten of the 
Father, full of grace and truth, comes down to save us from our 
sin. Ponder that as we sing, ponder 
that as we live, ponder that as we worship so that our hearts 
are drawn out. Yes, the humanity of Jesus, the 
true humanity, we appreciate, we love, we revel in the fact 
that he identifies with us in order to save us. Whatever is 
not assumed is not redeemed. So he becomes a real man. But 
we need to marvel in the fact that He's true God from true 
God, that He's light from light, that He is one in being with 
the Father, that He is the God of creation, the God of providence, 
the God of redemption, Our Lord Jesus Christ came to save us 
from our sins, and the best response that we can ever give is gratitude, 
it is thanksgiving, it is praise, worship, and adoration, and it 
is to live in light of these realities and pursue the things 
that he has called us unto, not because we'll be saved, but because 
we have been saved. Well, brethren, we'll save the 
creation of all things by the Word with the Father for next 
week. I just want to finish with a 
few concluding thoughts. In the first place, we have the 
glory of Christ. Remember, co-eternal with the 
Father, distinct from the Father, and equal or consubstantial with 
the Father. The Nicene Creed says, and in 
one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten 
of the Father before all worlds, God of God, light of light, very 
God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance 
with the Father by whom all things were made. Again, we'll see that 
next week in verses 3 to 5. Jesus is on the divine side in 
terms of the creation of all things. He's not part of the 
created order. He's not the other that has been 
created by the Father. Again, an abominable interpretation 
in the New World Translation at Colossians 1.15, where it 
says, all things were made by Him. They insert with their filth 
that all other things were made by Him. What's the implication? 
He himself is made, and as the made one by God, now makes everything 
else. That is heresy. That is wrong. That is not what Paul says in 
Colossians 1, and it's certainly not what John is saying in John 
1, 1 to 5. The Lord Christ is co-eternal. The Lord Christ is distinct from 
the Father. The Lord Christ is God Most High, 
God Almighty. And the Lord Christ is the creator 
of all things. Again, He's on the divine side 
of creation. Secondly, the doctrine of the 
Trinity must be known and believed because that is who God is. The doctrine of the Trinity must 
be known and believed because that is who God is. You don't marry somebody without 
knowing them. You don't be friends with somebody 
that you don't know. And yet we have all these people 
professing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that don't know 
who God is. We don't know whether he is one. 
We don't know whether he is three. Sometimes you meet with people 
and say, well, that's just too heady. It's too lofty for me. 
It's really not. It takes a little effort, takes 
a little energy. But in terms of understanding 
who God is, Doesn't that deserve a little attention? Doesn't that 
deserve a little energy? Doesn't that deserve a little 
effort on the part of the creature, especially the redeemed creature 
who wants to stand in awe and marvel at the glory of God Most 
High? Turn to Psalm 111 for just a 
moment. Psalm 111, just to underscore 
this. The doctrine of the Trinity must 
be known and believed because that is who God is. Notice in Psalm 111, verse one, 
praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my 
whole heart in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation. Now notice verse two, the works 
of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them. 
The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure 
in them. People spend a lot of time studying 
botany. People spend a lot of time studying 
biology. People spend a lot of time studying 
the various disciplines and areas of interest in this world. We 
need to spend requisite time in understanding who God is. 
taking our minds to scripture, taking our minds to the gifts 
that Christ has given to the church in terms of good theology, 
and learning who this God is. Because it's only ever a benefit. You never hurt, or you're never 
going to be put off, or you're never going to be hindered by 
growing in your understanding or knowledge of who God is. It is the most blessed area of 
research that there could possibly be. In other words, all of us 
should be diligent in the pursuit of theology, who God is specifically. If his works are great and they're 
studied by all who have pleasure in them, the one who made the 
works is far greater, infinitely greater, and therefore deserves 
attention as well. So if we marvel at the creation, 
as is easy to do today, let it take you to God. Let it cause 
you to reflect upon the wisdom and the power and the goodness 
displayed in the created order. When we reflect upon this world 
that we live in, with all of the ups and all of the downs, 
all of the hardships and afflictions, all of the heartaches and the 
disappointments, let us remember our God is in heaven and He does 
whatever He pleases. Father, Son, and Spirit is not 
on a holiday. He's not gone during the COVID-19 
pandemic. He hasn't turned his back upon 
the reality that civil government in Canada has prohibited the 
public worship of God. He is conscious. He is present. He is divine. He is sovereign 
over all of this stuff. And so this ought to encourage 
the people of God, even in the midst of difficulty, even in 
the midst of hardship, even in the midst of the misery and destruction 
and pain that some like to inflict upon others. With reference to 
the doctrine of the Trinity, it is a non-negotiable. You deny 
this and you deny God Almighty. Again, a creed from the Church, 
the Athanasian Creed, that we worship one God in Trinity, and 
Trinity in unity, neither confounding the persons nor dividing the 
substance. We need divine simplicity and 
divine triunity. Calvin said, thus we perceive 
that God cannot be truly known unless our faith distinctly conceive 
of the three persons in one essence. Again, this isn't just one guy 
on a Sunday in Chilliwack. This is what the church has said 
consistently as a whole at her inception. When she came to deal 
with the doctrine of who God is, she spent a lot of time hammering 
this out. When she came to deal with who 
Christ is, she spent a lot of time in hammering this out. There 
were a lot of people exiled in the early church. If you held 
wrong views of Jesus, you could be exiled, removed from your 
house and put out in the wilderness. Men that denied the deity of 
Jesus, there was one in history who denied the hypostatic union, 
a man by the name of Nestorius. Cyril writes to him and calls 
him the arch heretic, the new Judas. You see, they took seriously 
this reality because of, say for instance, John 8. If you 
do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins. It is that clear. We can be wrong 
about eschatology and end up in heaven. We can be wrong on 
a whole lot of other things and end up in heaven. But we cannot 
deny the Son. If we deny the Son, we deny the 
Father. And there is no life in that 
person. Francis Turretin makes this observation, 
it is not sufficient to know that God is as to existence or 
what he is as to his attributes, but we must know also who he 
is. as to the persons as he presents 
himself to be known by us in his word. Hence, whosoever denieth 
the Son, the same hath not the Father. 1 John 2.23. And he that 
honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent 
him. John 5.23. Therefore, God has revealed himself 
as one in essence. three in persons, namely the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Now listen to what he 
says. Thus, he who does not acknowledge 
and believe the Trinity has not true God, but has erected for 
himself an idol in the place of God. So it is most crucial, 
again, not just because Francis Turretin says so, or John Calvin 
says so, or Cyril of Alexandria say so, but because Moses says 
so, because Isaiah says so, because Jesus says so, because the apostles 
say so. Brethren, we must spend the mental 
energy necessary We may not ever arrive to the level of Augustine 
and his treatise on the Trinity, but we must have a fundamental 
understanding of who God is in terms of his oneness and in terms 
of his threeness. One in substance or essence, 
three in person or subsistence, one true and living God. How 
many persons are there in the Godhead? The Westminster Shorter 
Catechism asks. There are three persons in the 
Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And these 
three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and 
glory. So, consubstantiality. Thirdly, not only knowing the 
doctrine, but being encouraged by it. The one thing that our 
confession does, different from Westminster at chapter 2, paragraph 
3. After dealing with the... I'm 
right there. Westminster doesn't have that last bit. Yeah, what 
the London Baptist does, it says basically the same thing as Westminster, 
only it uses subsistence for more theological precision. Don't 
tell our Presbyterian brethren I said that, than person. But 
it also adds this statement at the end. I want you to get this. It says, which doctrine, after 
going through ad intra relations, after distinguishing father, 
son, spirit, after going through what I've read twice in this 
sermon, it says, which doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation 
of all our communion with God and comfortable dependence on 
Him? Amen, brethren. Amen. Father, Son, and Spirit, for 
us. For us and our salvation. For us and our benefit. For us and our communion. And 
for us and our comfortable dependence upon God. Now, if you don't know 
the doctrine of the Trinity, I hope you'll pay attention. 
I hope that you'll ask for notes. I hope that you'll want to go 
to read some books. I've got a little book by Scott 
Swain. It's a great introduction to 
the doctrine of the Trinity. A bit thicker one by Matthew 
Barrett. Simply Trinity. These are really 
good books that work in concert with the church. They use the 
terminology and the language and the data that has been yielded 
through Christ's gifts to the church throughout its ages. I 
want everybody to know that. But if you're not a believer 
here this morning, never forget what I said at the outset in 
the introduction. One of the purposes, in fact, 
the purpose John gives us in chapter 20, verses 30 and 31, 
is for the salvation of sinners. Listen again to what he says, 
and truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his 
disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written 
that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, 
and that believing you may have life in his name. The best way 
to begin your study of the doctrine of the Trinity is to believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ. You are a sinner. You have gone 
astray. That's not again me telling you 
as if I'm some superior agent. I am a wretch. miserable, wretched, 
godless, not seeking after the Lord. It was the Lord who sought 
me. Anybody in this church that has 
saving faith in Jesus Christ will tell you the same thing. 
We didn't wake up one day and say, oh boy, I've decided to 
follow Jesus. No, God is the seeker. God is 
the savior. God is the one who came after 
us. I'm not here as a superior saying, 
oh, you're a sinner and you just need to fix your life. No, we're 
all sinners, miserable, each and every one. As the prophet 
Isaiah says in chapter 53, all we like sheep have gone astray. 
The remedy or the antidote or the way of salvation is not by 
your good words. It's not by your moral reform. 
It's not by you changing your mind and say, I decided that 
I'm going to be a better me. It is by looking unto Jesus, 
that Jesus who says in John 3, 14, that as Moses lifted up the 
serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted 
up. And when Moses lifted that serpent 
in the wilderness, the way of remedy was not to drag themselves 
over to that brazen serpent. It was to look and live. Jesus 
uses that parallel analogy to say, with reference to sinners, 
you need to look. and live faith in Jesus Christ, 
that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the 
living God, and that believing you may have life in his name. 
Let us pray. Father, we thank you for this 
Word, not just the written Word, but the Word that is incarnate. 
We thank you for Jesus Christ, our Lord. We thank you for the 
Savior. We thank you that He is Lamb of God, who takes away 
the sin of the world. We thank you that He is the gift 
given by the Father, such that all who believe in Him will have 
everlasting life. We thank you as well that in 
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the 
Word was God. He was in the beginning with 
God. Lord, cause us to reflect upon this more often, and cause 
us to rejoice in the reality that when it came to saving sinners, 
it was God himself who orchestrated it. It was God himself who executed 
it. It was God himself who came on 
this blessed mission to seek and to save that which was lost. 
May this move us in terms of our own personal religious life. 
May it affect us as we conduct ourselves in this world, and 
may it certainly affect us as we gather as the church corporate 
to worship and praise our blessed God, even Father, Son, and Holy 
Spirit. And Lord, open hearts today all 
over the world and cause there to be that conviction for sin. 
And may sinners look and live at the blessed, look at the blessed 
Lord Jesus Christ and live eternally in Him. And we ask this in Jesus' 
name. Amen.